


Typicality as a Formality

by Talle



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angry Gavin Reed, Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV) References, Cute, Fluff, Gavin Reed Needs a Hug, Gavin Reed Redemption, Gen, Good Parent Hank Anderson, Slow Burn, gavin has a kid, we're all broken inside
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-24 17:10:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 51,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17104706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talle/pseuds/Talle
Summary: It's supposed to be a typical day at the DPD but what once starts as a small security breach investigation, turns into the revelation of a lifetime, and it's definitely WAY above Gavin Reed's pay grade.





	Typicality as a Formality

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to this piece of total trash! I wanted to make it a few chapters long but i changed y mind, so now you get one incredibly long fic! I hope you like it, put a lot of effort into this!

The precinct in which Lieutenant Hank Anderson had worked for the majority of his career had rarely been quiet. It was a space in which many officers of the law shared daily, bustling about their tasks in their own course of action.  Only those that worked the night shift were fortunate enough to be without the many employees that loitered beside the vending machines. Hank would occasionally eye them in the midst of their small talk from his desk not too far away, wondering as to how they found time to socialise.

 This was something that would also constantly annoy the remaining others who tried to work, _especially_ the precinct asshole Gavin, who was well-known as the man with a short temper that you didn’t mess with. The young detective never really saw the need for others to converse, perhaps because there was a rare select few that would willingly submit to a chat with him. It didn’t matter, and neither did it progress open cases, and if there was something Gavin Reed hated more than certain depressingly drunk lieutenants and know it all androids, it was the incompetence of doing your job.

But today was certainly off in a way that neither detective or lieutenant could figure, the two exiting their cars in unison and sharing a look of somewhat disbelief and disgust as the younger pulled out a cigarette and lit the end. Hank stared as the orange filter was placed between chapped lips and Gavin took in a drag, a sigh escaping along with the faint smell of tobacco.

“That desperate to fucking kill yourself?” Hank spoke quickly, judging the way the detective paused to snarl. Neither of the two moved from beside their respective vehicles, almost as if waiting for the other in a competitive stance.

“Shut the fuck up grandpa, shouldn’t you be drowning somewhere with a bottle of whisky?” The taunt came back with barely an effect as Gavin kept the cigarette between his fore and middle fingers, face contorted into hostility.

It was the same pattern every day, almost like a game that the two shared. The bickering and constant insults, never really doing damage, but enough for the words to release emotional baggage that neither men knew how to properly dispose of. It was like an agreed hatred, that neither knew when, where or why it started, just a silent glare that spoke words they both seemed to understand — and that was that.

The well-known members of the precinct had come to familiar terms with the two’s hostility over time, meaning that it was no surprise to anyone whenever their verbal assaults grew to beyond the confinements of whispers. It was only ever an issue when they were heard by everyone, because it was then that a hundred or so people were silenced by two, and no matter how much Gavin hated to become a poor performing worker, it would distract _everyone_.

Thankfully the current situation didn’t have the time to escalate, nor was it their boss Captain Fowler, who had intercepted.

Connor, the RK800 detective android, in his dashing suit and tie, strode out of the building in accordance to the alert of the lieutenant’s arrival. Of course Connor would have waited like some lovesick puppy, both Hank and he having a shared bond in the form of a familial relationship despite what otherwise may have been hostility in the past. That was something Connor still shared with Gavin, and by no circumstance did the android wish for the racism to become an additional point on either human’s disciplinary record.

“Hank, Detective Reed, I advise that your tantalising remarks stop this instant, less the entire precinct be reminded of the last time the both of you were… preoccupied.” The reference to the week prior brought memories to the three’s minds. The shouting, the yelling, the absolute embarrassment that Fowler had experienced after enduring the screams for ten minutes in hopes that the two would quit on their own. Hank and Gavin both turned to look at Connor.

“No one asked you to meddle into other people’s shit you piece of fucking plastic.” Gavin spat, and instantly flicked the burnt out cigarette in Connor’s general direction. The orange glow slowly dimmed before dying out, a trail of thin wispy smoke curling into the air as the remains of the filter lay untouched.

“Littering is considered a crime-“

“Oh yeah? Prove I did it.” There was an abrupt pause as Gavin smirked triumphantly, arms folded as he leaned against the hood of his car. “Yeah, didn’t think so, dumb shit.”

Hank frowned as he made his way over to Connor, a hand clapped on his shoulder in a sense of comfort, despite knowing that Connor appeared perfectly ok. “Well dumbass, I dunno ‘bout you, but Connor’s a walking camera, got them cool optical thingos he’s always going on about.” Hank grinned cheerfully, “Plus, my boy here is _really_ good at analysing shit. And I mean—“ he leaned towards Gavin daringly, “like if I let him, he’d lick it and ya know… your saliva is all over it… an’ wouldn’t that just make you all hot an’ bothered?” The lieutenant appeared to have known what he was doing in saying such things, as he also knew that a riled up Gavin would be a blubbering mess until he’d steamed off.

And judging by the looks on the detective’s face, Gavin was _pissed._ “Fuck. Off.” He managed, posture stiff and unnatural with hands bawled into fists by his side. He moved quickly at that, shoulder shoving the two as he walked between them dignified, footsteps heavy and solid as he took his anger out on the concrete beneath him.

Hank gave a hearty laugh as he wrapped an arm around the android, guiding him back towards the precinct in view. “Ah come ‘ere Con, we should probably head inside anyway.” The two walked briskly to the front entrance, a stride of confidence following their steps as they paused at the automatic doors, waiting for them to slide open and allow them to enter.

“Hank… what did you tell Detective Reed that caused him become so… flustered?” Connor’s curiosity arose, the odd sensation of bubbling and anticipation mixing inside him as his question lingered. It was something he had found himself struggling with as of late, but thankfully, knowing of the identity crisis that the android had been experiencing in correlation to deviancy allowed for Hank to be patient and understanding.

It was a fairly new and common term nowadays, deviancy. The idea and coding that allowed androids to think and abide to their own will, complete with the package of new found emotions – they were considered alive, and if the peaceful revolution that was held not nearly a year ago didn’t prove that, there really wasn’t much else that could.

Unfortunately it wasn’t yet an entirely acceptable fact. Conner knew through the history of humans, that the species had often found it hard to identify with those that were different from themselves, so to find people that still saw androids as plain machines was going to be expected, and sadly more often than not directed at himself. Being one of the faces of the revolution had its perks, but the downfalls has also their consequences. So Connor was still to decide whether being recognised as a unique model AND key factor to the success of the demonstration was a good thing or bad.

Hank — and the majority of the precinct to be honest — had commended Connor on his achievements, because infiltrating the multimillion dollar android company, Cyberlife, was indeed quite the feat. In fact, Hank was more than overjoyed after the events in Detroit had calmed, celebrating a good three weeks after the rest of the world had ended their own celebrations. Connor hadn’t minded, it was good to see Hank happy.

It was also a good thing the majority of his work colleagues were proud as it made integration back into the work field easier. But, majority meant there was also a minority in opposition, which for the life of him, Connor couldn’t figure out _why_ , a certain detective Gavin Reed, remained just as hostile as before.

Speaking of whom, Connor was yet to receive an answer to his puzzling question in regards of said man, and as the two of them passed the receptionists and entered the precinct, Hank finally spoke.

“Oh, ya know, gave him a little warning for what was to come had he continued being a dick.” The answer was quite vague, past experiences telling Connor that there was more to it than a simple warning, something the lieutenant had probably not wanted Connor to know, so he accepted the answer with a smile and allowed for the man to enter before him.

 

~~~

 

A low whistle escaped Hank’s lips upon entering the area. The hustling of people in their designated desks extending to those in the middle of the bullpen, and even the corridors. They paused beside one of the walls, and both eyed Gavin as he groaned out loud.

“What the fuck are you doing here?!” He swatted away a young man, frightening a few others in his general area. Connor and Hank moved to stand beside him.

“The entirety of the IT department is assisting our precinct with an unaccounted issue.” Connor explained.

“Your friend is right.” A female appeared, stepping up towards the small group as Gavin protested to the title. He certainly did not consider Connor a friend — nor did he consider a single person in the building. Gavin Reed didn’t have friends, they only hindered his ability to progress in his career.

But the girl chose to ignore the detective’s remark and took a glance at Hank’s more welcoming expression. She herself was dressed in a rather casual attire, a jumper and leggings clothing her figure with a pair of rather comfortable flat shoes at her feet. “I’m Melanie Cortez, head of the IT department. We were contacted to assist in your security breach in accordance with your captain.” Her smile was cheerful and oddly enlightening as she fiddling with the hem of her sleeve.

“Security breach? It’s probably just some dumb ass who googled porn or some shit.” Gavin snorted, earning a wary glance from the woman.

“Fortunately that would be an easy fix— but if you haven’t guessed by the number of people that are here to help, it’s a problem that’s proving to be bigger than expected.”  Somehow she managed to make sure her words were still cheerful, presented in a sickeningly sweet tone that agitated Gavin even further.

If the entire IT department was squeezed into the precinct, that had to mean that all the systems were down for the day, explaining why all the officers were either wandering around aimlessly, or seeming to be mingling with the newcomers – stalling the entire process and angering Gavin some more. Perfect, an entire day for finishing up old cases and it’s wasted on some stupid idiot who forgot to close the PornHub tab. Even if he was already told that it wasn’t lewd websites responsible, Gavin needed to blame something and the only logical thing he could counter was that, so he stuck with his story.

“How long is this gonna take?” Hank asked, eyeing a group that had taken refuge at Connor and his’ shared desk. He narrowed his eyes as another couple of people joined the group, setting up a laptop and beginning to feverishly type at the keys. He wished that he could type that fast, it would certainly make reports a lot easier.

“If we’re lucky, a day.” Melanie smiled nervously at Gavin’s maddening eyes, “But realistically… we’re looking at a couple of weeks.” Her tone was apologetic and sincere, rendering her sympathy towards the men as wholehearted, to which Connor and Hank had smiled at her with understanding as Gavin refrained from speaking.

A day was pure luck, something which no one seemed to truly believe would happen, not even Connor who could already see the percentage of that reality decreasing the more time passed. With nothing more to be said about the situation, the small group dispersed as Melanie excused herself to speak with the captain — most likely to deliver the same news that she had given them already.

Gavin could barely wait to see what the result would be. He already knew that one of two scenarios would play out, and both were something that he had no desire to partake in. The first, was that the entire precinct would be laid off until the systems came back online, and as Melanie said, that could be up to two weeks, something which Gavin figured wouldn’t be best. The second, and while more favourable it was still less desirable, they were to be placed in another precinct, sharing _everything_ they had.

Hank and Connor exchanged a look and walked away from the detective to find the break room, deciding that it was best to leave Gavin’s space as he silently raged in his mind. The break room wasn’t exactly hard to locate, being at the back of the building and to the right beside the two briefing rooms that were currently jam packed with IT staff members.

Connor scanned the people as he passed. An astonishing 35 in the first, squeezed into groups of an average four, each with a little monitor and headset that was most likely used for communicating with the other groups spread across the building. As they passed the second room, Connor felt he didn’t need to bother with anymore scanning to know that there was quite the number of people, this time officers and IT combined inside.

The break room was completely crammed with the other officers that had nowhere to go, slips of conversation falling on deaf ears as Hank decided to create a pathway to the overexerted coffee machine that practically wheezed for help when turned on.

Connor’s programs prepared to scan the ingredients in the hot beverage. It became a habitual thing for the android to report his findings to Hank, but in courtesy of the human’s feelings, Connor opted to withhold the information. The slight frown on his face was forced deep down as his HUD read the high levels of caffeine. Today was proving to be quite stressful

“Connor!” A voice called, it was delightful and uplifting, and matching exactly to Tina Chen’s vocal wave pattern. Surely enough, once he turned to look in the right direction, he was met with the happy woman, who was nodding to Hank. “Hank, how are you?”

The lieutenant rolled his eyes lightly in response, which as a surprise to Connor, seemed to answer the officer’s question easily. Humans could be so expressive. Tina grinned and clapped him on the back, earning a soft grunt of surprise as she turned once more to him. “So!” She clasped her hands together, “Heard ‘bout the whole system take over?”

Connor shook his head with a frown, he didn’t like not knowing things, something which Hank had already tried to explain was going to happen much to his disparity. Thankfully this time however, Tina was there to put him out of his questioning misery and so he continued. “We were only told it would take some time, what have they told you?”

She sighed with a smile before nodding, “Our entire precinct system has been taken over by a hacker. They can’t locate them quite yet, but they’ve apparently run a ransom. They’re message is all garbled up though so they don’t know yet what the hacker wants… but I’m betting it’s something we don’t really have.” Connor offered a thoughtless nod.

“While this certainly isn’t an ideal situation… this hacker is quite talented to be able to take down an entire precinct.” He commended. “They must be very skilled and very capable.”

“Damn right they are… in the meantime, patrols are running as usual apparently, timetables haven’t changed, unless you’re on it, you don’t have to be here, or so we hope — we’re all just waiting for the green light from Fowler.”

As if on cue, said man exited his office with Melanie behind him, instantly descending the small flight of steps as she made her way towards a group of people at a desk in the far left of the room. Like a spell, the room fell silent and all eyes turned towards the man, waiting with anticipation as to what the plan would be.

He cleared his throat, nodding as his hands gripped the side railing for guidance. Despite having talked, demanded and even yelled in front of his team, the additional hundred or so others from the IT department had made the announcement just that little bit more nerve wracking. He didn’t let that slip though, instead making eye contact with a select few before speaking.

“Right, as we all know, a hacker has chosen to attack our systems with ransomware. The demands are currently being decoded and the location is yet to be determined. As is, it doesn’t look like we will be able to keep the precinct open for the next couple of weeks.” No one spoke as Fowler continued, although Connor could easily locate Gavin’s ridged form, stress levels becoming an outlier in comparison to the remainder of the room.

“As for now, remain prepared to be called in and those who are rostered for patrol will need to attend their posts. The public will be directed to the 97th precinct and the rest of you will be dismissed until the situation is under control.” With that, the room was silent once more as the Captain eyed the crowd in search of something. “You, you and you.” He said, singling out Connor, Hank and Gavin. “Get in my office, no excuses. The rest of you, dismissed!”

And the room came to life once more, people poured in from left and right as they made their way to the exits. Despite there still being the IT department and a couple of officers about to go on patrol, the precinct was significantly quieter, and even slightly emptier than on a usual day. It was a stark contrast and wasn’t entirely quiet, but the atmosphere wasn’t as musty as before either, so regardless, it was a win for Gavin’s oncoming migraine.

Being the furthest from the captain’s office, he was the last to reach the glass door, quickly throwing it open and allowing it to carelessly slam back into the doorframe as he power walked towards the duo in front of Fowler. He cleared his throat and stood aside from Connor, being sure to keep his distance for good measure as Fowler only rolled his eyes. “Captain?”

“Sit down Detective Reed, I don’t have much time.” The man urged, a hand thrown in gesture towards an unoccupied chair that rested next to the one that was taken up by Hank. Begrudgingly, Gavin took his place, shooting a quick glance at the lieutenant who appeared adamant as to not make eye contact with him. It was probably for the better.

“Sir, why are we here?” Hank asked, arms folded in an impatient manner.

“I’m about to tell you.” Fowler paused, drawing up a spare chair beside him. It was placed on the other side of Gavin, who hesitated in place as Connor took it willingly, feeling trapped by the cop duo with one on either side. “Now then.” The Captain had returned to his own seat and took a look at each man carefully. “As you know, this whole thing is going down.” He nodded towards the commotion that was ongoing outside. “And so far, we got nothing.”

Fowler sighed as he leaned back into his office chair, taking a pause to figure a sentence out in the best way, before shrugging his shoulders in a tense manner. “But, a couple of the guys have been saying that they may be able to pin point an exact location. It has been reduced to roughly an area somewhere between China and America.”

“I’m sorry, _reduced_?” Gavin spluttered, “That’s more like two very large fucking countries.”

“Shut up Reed, I don’t really want your input right now.” Fowler stressed, “There isn’t really much else that we have on the guy responsible, but the reason I called you three in, is because once we have a more accurate location, you’re all going to investigate and apprehend the guy.”

“Wait, what if the perp ain’t even in Detroit? Are we gonna have to fly to fucking god knows where? Jeffrey, why do-“

“Hank.” The captain silenced, “There’s a good chance that our guy is based in Detroit for them to have picked this specific precinct, if not, you’re going undercover. And, if I’m right, the guy’s a major bust that’ll be beneficial if we shut them down. That’s why I’m putting my best to work this case.” He gave a wary glance to the three before continuing, “Which means that I don’t wanna here nothing about the three of you bitching. Are we clear?”

Connor nodded his head in unison with the other two males as he was handed a case file. “There’s jack shit in there, but we’ll call you if we find more, dismissed.” And with that, the android couldn’t have been more relieved to finally exit the small space of office that held him confined.

It wasn’t that he was claustrophobic as such, being an android, one of his many few memories of being booted up for the first time included air tight spaces. Pitch black and a foam cast that locked him in place, it was like a giant toy box that had him unable to move. Not only that, but the lines of red code that strung in his peripheral vision, acting as more walls that imprisoned him, however this time all in his head. He didn’t really associate feelings to that experience — he was still a machine back then after all, so it wasn’t really a surprise that he didn’t find trauma in similar scenarios, but he did admit to finding a certain weight lift off of him. It was freeing in a sense.

He trailed behind Hank as the man led the way towards their desks, happy to find that the group that was once swarmed there, had moved to another location when the majority of the precinct left earlier. Hank plopped himself into his chair, feet placed on the ground as the swivel slowed to a stop. He paused mere inches away from his terminal before reclining his hand awkwardly, already forgetting that none of the services would be available to him even if he tried.

To Gavin’s immediate displeasure, he soon made the same realisation after spending a good two minutes bashing a hand against the monitor, in futile hope that perhaps violence would be the answer. It never was, but he never learnt that. With a frustrated groan, he jolted from his seat and pushed back against the desk, the wheels of the chair carrying the object a slight distance from himself. Another groan escaped his mouth, and it was then that Connor assumed that the detective was just trying to make up excuses to be mad.

No matter, his processors and sensors began to pick up on the presence of another behind him, immediately filling in the blanks and guessing that it would be a rather upset Detective Reed, unwillingly making his way over to their desk. Another grunt followed, this time closer to his audio processors, and clarifying that it was indeed the detective that had reached their location.

It looked like the first of the two predictions he had come to the conclusion to earlier was happening, and somehow, Gavin was the only one who wasn’t allowed to go home. Instead, he was stuck on a case with basically no leads and two of the worst human and androids in existence. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose angrily, wondering why out of all the officers, he had to be stuck with _them_?! While deciding it was probably some cruel joke that fate had decided to play, Gavin snatched at the folder containing the cases’ information, flicking the paper open to skim through what Connor presumably had already done.

It was quite blank and the details given were nothing short of vague. If there was anything to link together, it would be a miracle for anyone to find. The detective felt himself grow mad at the useless information displayed, like it was the printed words who were at fault for his predicament.

“Servers in precincts 92 and 95 have both been attacked within the last couple of weeks.” The file read, a record of each attack listed in as much detail as possible, with the duration periods listed neatly underneath. Beside each, was an in-depth description of the situation, explaining the symptoms and the solutions that were provided. There was no immediate connection between the attacks, and Hank was almost certain that they couldn’t have been related, but despite the various locations pin pointed, and the information that bore no similarity, it was the signature code that this hacker used that was reliable for the case to be made one.

Connor scanned the copy of the codes used from each precinct, comparing it to that of which had taken over their own. “The culprit appears to take a liking to translating text into layers of various computer languages, the first was translated into binary and then layered with hexadecimal, binary, decimal, binary, hexadecimal and then decimal. Analysing the other examples provided also suggest similar patterns.” Connor looked up at the two men, “There is no correlation apart from that, however, I did try to appoint a value to each type of code and see if the first letters could mean something since they seem to be in an order. The only solution I got was; b, h, b, d, b, h, d or, if each letter stands for its respective numeric value; 2, 8, 2, 4, 2, 8, 4.”

Gavin hissed as he clicked his tongue, eyes skimming over the report as he tried to decipher what Connor had said. He hated not understanding what appeared to be logical, and androids just made him feel that little bit more idiotic. His pride refused to let him see reason though, and so he waited stubbornly until Hank had to ask what the fuck it was that Connor had just said.

The android gave a useless sigh, seeing as he didn’t need to breathe to function, which only appeared to aggravate Gavin that little bit more. Connor picked up a piece of paper and a pen that lay plainly on his desk, uncapping it and attempting to draw out a simple diagram of letters and numbers. “English words are translated into different computer languages, as stated by the report.” He began slowly, pointing at the pictures given in example, “They merely read out threats and whatnot, but I’m not focused on what they wrote. If we look at the first example, the technicians said that the message was translated into binary.” Connor paused to ensure that the two had followed along with what he said, only continuing when he was sure that they were understanding. “After it was in binary, the perp decided to put the result into a hexadecimal translator, afterwards, it was translated into decimal and following that it was repeatedly put through the same codes.”

Connor wrote down the combination of letters he had mentioned before on the paper, pen nib tapping hurriedly. “My initial thought, was that the three codes used, binary, hexadecimal and decimal, were a representation of something and that they may have been used in a specific order to spell something out, hence, I assigned the numeric values-“

“A is one and B is two et cetera, ok, I get it now.” Hank slowly cut in, eyeing the paper thoughtfully. “And that produced those numbers from before if B is for binary and so on and so forth.”

“Correct.” Connor nodded, a smile on his face as he turned towards Gavin expectantly. “Does this make sense?” He cautiously asked, daring to make eye contact with the man beside him.

“What? Think I’m dumb, Dipshit?” Gavin spat, eyes narrowing into an ugly glare, “Think you’re fucking smarter than me?!” By now it was obvious he had boiled over, whether it be the stress, the build-up of emotions or something else that he couldn’t quite pinpoint. Gavin was sure that he was about to punch Connor square in the jaw when he eyed Captain Fowler and thought it best to hold back from lashing out. “I understood what you said the fucking first time.” He sneered, readjusting himself as the latter nodded quickly.

The android’s LED flickered yellow for a moment, hinting at the slight uncertainty. Many weren’t sure as to why he decided to keep that one part of him, an obvious indicator of who and what exactly he was as it was clearly something that brought attention as he walked. It was not always in the good way either, earning him the discrimination that still lingered in the public. But Connor had told Hank the first time the old man asked, that it was simply his choosing.  To him, the LED was a reminder that he was an android and that he would always be proud to be one. It also felt a bit like a lie, something that would make him appear deceptive had he removed it, so Connor opted to keep the light, allowing it to change colour in accordance with how he felt. Hank was secretly relieved, it helped him understand the android’s current mindset.

“I was merely checking.” Connor had swiftly responded, turning his attention back to the lieutenant before another outburst could be made, for the sake of their group and those surrounding them. “But as I said, there doesn’t appear to be any correlation with the numbers, if I use the same principle with the other precinct incidents, the entire sequence reads; 2, 8, 2, 4, 2, 8, 4 – 4, 2, 4, 8, 4, 2, 8. Most codes are in at least groups of three, to which I assume our precinct would be the final.”

“Well, then we tell the dipshits to decode the crap quickly and get this fucking over with.” Gavin slammed a hand down on the table as if the solution had been obvious from the very beginning, earning a warning glare from Hank as he smugly smirked. “This case isn’t that fucking hard, is it?” Carelessly, the detective then yelled across the bullpen to attract the attention of a group of IT workers, voice barking commands as they hurried over with mixed looks of fear and determination.

Hank could only shake his head in disappointment as Gavin began speaking with a tone of authority, like he was someone better than the combined group before them. He felt bad for the young adults, and did his best to compensate for Gavin’s actions by offering a roll of his eyes and soft smile, although he wasn’t completely sure it did anything to help.

“What the fuck have you been doing all day? Decode the message we received all ready.” A hand was lifted up in the air for exaggeration.

 “I- I’m sorry sir, our teams have been trying-“

“Does it look like I give a fuck? This is your job, get a fucking move on!” And with that, they nodded their frantic heads and began showing the progress they had already made. It was very little, something which Connor was doubtful as to if they would complete any time soon, and so he offered a hand and scanned the digits while analysing the available work. He smiled encouragingly before turning to his desk and writing down the sequence of languages.

“I believe I’ve successfully decoded the message. The order used here is; hexadecimal, decimal, hexadecimal, binary, hexadecimal, decimal, binary.” Connor prompted, eyeing one of the members of the tech group. The men watched as a girl with blonde hair began to type feverishly at a holographic keyboard, and suddenly, the sounds of triumphant cheers echoed from their location.

The message itself was plain and simple, a threat and demand as the other precincts had experienced in the past, meaning that the message contained no new information in relation to what Gavin, Connor and Hank were already working with. So with a scoff from the former, the small group of computer experts whisked themselves towards the opposite side of the building in what Connor believed as a subtle attempt to avoid Gavin’s rage. Hank by then had already converted the sequence into numbers and had rewritten the entire chain in the centre of the page.

“2, 8, 2, 4, 2, 8, 4 – 4, 2, 4, 8, 4, 2, 8 – 8, 4, 8, 2, 8, 4, 2.” Connor read aloud, frowning in thought as he began to work out what could be done with the numbers. “What if we add them all together to produce a three digit number?” He suggested.

“I think not.” Gavin cut in, “ _I_ am going to do it differently.” Avoiding another argument was the best idea so Connor agreed to let the detective do his own thing, leaving Hank and himself to try his method. The lieutenant gave Gavin an indecipherable look, to which Connor chose to ignore for the sake of the case they were working on. After a few minutes, a disgruntled noise emitted from Gavin’s lips, and rather quickly, he turned on his heel to march towards the break room, scaring a few people that had gathered there to work, his voice echoing as he told them off for loitering.

“Don’t mind him, he gets like that when he realises he’s wrong.” Hank bemused, eyeing the distracted look on Connor’s face, “He’s an idiot, can’t admit when he’s wrong.” But the simple explanation, despite being entirely correct in accordance to what Connor recognised as “stubbornness”, made the android feel a certain negative weight in the pit of his stomach. It didn’t rest well within him, almost prompting him to go up and say something to ease the situation, but logic oversaw that any attempt would be futile, and so Connor remained seated in a sense of sadness, staring at the numbers that Hank and he had procured.

30 31 36. These numbers were certainly meant for something, Connor could feel it, and yet his mind wandered back to the detective who was currently cursing under his breath as he chugged what the android counted as his seventh coffee that day. Caffeine was definitely something that was addictive, and if Connor could, he was sure that he’d be just as glued to the drink as Hank and Gavin. His distant gaze was snapped closed by Hank, who had called his name in response to their answer, confused beyond what it could possibly mean.

“Excuse me… are you the officers working on the current IT case?” A low voice piped up, attached to what appeared to be a male android who’s LED was tucked underneath a cap, a hint of blue peaking just. His clothing was no longer the standard uniform all androids wore that Hank found ridiculous, it was a casual outfit with a simple t-shirt and shorts. Connor smiled happily as the android approached them, noting that it was good to see a mixture of the two races working side by side one another. He remembered his old uniform, something that he was quite fond of before the revolution. It was only after Hank set it ablaze in the kitchen sink did Connor decide to purchase some less outstanding clothes, and opted for simple button ups and jeans.

“Yeah, Lieutenant Anderson and Detective Connor, our partner, Detective I’m-An-Asshole-Reed is busy indulging in caffeine by the breakroom like a sore loser.” Hank smirked at the introduction, a sense of smugness rubbing off his voice. “Is there anything you need?”

The android before the two seemed to find the name entertaining and let out a chuckle with that, before deciding it was best he spoke, eyeing Detective Reed in the corner of his eyes as said man had begun making his way back with a look of absolute fury across his face.  The newcomer cleared his voice. “Ah yes,” He began, “Captain Fowler asked that once progress was made, we reported to the three of you. After Detective Connor helped to decipher the threat, we were able to close in the approximate location of the hacker to America.”

Gavin’s voice was heard as he scoffed, forcing his way past the android and seemingly deciding to take out his pent up frustrations on the poor guy. “Approximate my ass, America is fucking huge, thanks for nothing Tincan.” The inconsiderate tone that Gavin displayed had quite the effect on the guy, who by then was frowning as his LED flickered yellow. He appeared hurt to which Connor offered a small, sad smile in hopes of making amends. But the damage was done, as Gavin was the victor, staring with pride as the android said goodbye and walked off rather quickly.

Hank shook his head in disapproval.

“Alright, so what the fuck have you done while I was busy?” Gavin immediately turned to look at the paper in front of Connor, plucking it relentlessly before examining the three numbers himself. “Well, what the fuck do we have here, a dumb ass area code.” He snorted, pausing with a gloating smile at the two’s faces. “Oh what? Don’t tell me you guys didn’t see it?” Another pause, and the longer it drew out, the more gleeful the man became, realising that he was a step ahead for once. “A dumb ass lieutenant and a useless android, tsk, what’s this world coming to?” the snarky comment only left his lips momentarily before Hank decided it was then that Gavin needed a good slap on the arm, enough to cause shock but not leave damage. The detective rolled his eyes. “If you’re done being sore losers –“

“As Hank would say, a rich statement, coming from you. It refers to the hypocrisy that –“

“Yeah, yeah. What the fuck ever.” Gavin smirked, batting a hand away from Connor. “Now, back to what _I_ discovered that you two incompetent bozos missed, it’s the fucking area code for somewhere in Florida. Your little android buddy was fucking right for once, all you had to do was add the digits. How did you miss something so fucking obvious?” It was irritating to witness Gavin, so much so that Connor was beginning to empathise with Hank who, beside him, was clearly struggling to not wipe off the shit eating grin with blunt force.

“I commend you on your skills detective.” Connor praised, well aware that he was feeding the already oversized ego that Gavin boasted. But the detective was in a somewhat pleasant manner, so it didn’t bother Connor as to how annoying he became – at least it was tolerable, he could work with that.

As predicted, Gavin swallowed the compliment whole and accepted it as cold hard fact, before characteristically stepping away from the group and playing the leader, guiding the trio towards the captain’s office once more in a prideful manner that would otherwise not be associated with Gavin Reed’s usual persona. Large steps were taken as he burst through the office purposefully, announcing his arrival in a comical way and earning a few stares from those nearby. Hank stared in bewilderment as he watched with the onlookers at how Gavin seemed more pleasant, confusion dawning on him as he decided that he couldn’t have cared less about what the man was doing. Let the good word get to his head and leave him high, he’d come back down eventually so there was no point in getting used to it.

Sure enough, after entering the room, Gavin seemed to have turned completely, reverting back to a rather starkly mood. Connor began to wonder if the detective was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but quickly shut the idea down when he found insufficient evidence to back up his theory. Besides, he didn’t have any medical modules installed that would be beneficial for determining such factor, his own knowledge being limited to medical aid for on-sight injuries. And while THAT information was far larger than necessarily needed be, it still didn’t assist his hypothesis, and so Connor used the viable resources he had to draw a conclusion; it didn’t matter.

“So, 349, in Florida…” Captain Fowler’s voice cut Connor from his thoughts, who in turn began to frown. “Good job detective, I’m glad the three of you were able to pull your heads together and figure it out.” But the praise was short lived as Connor stepped up to speak, already knowing that the news he brought was not going to be in favour of Gavin’s work.

“Unfortunately, after a little research, 349 isn’t an assigned area within Florida.” He began, almost wanting to shrink back into Hank who chuckled lowly in amusement. Gavin glared daggers into Connor’s face, and if looks could kill, the android would have dropped dead in that instant. Thankfully, Captain Fowler didn’t seem to notice the side remarks, either that or he chose to ignore them, and instead continue with the briefing of the current situation.

“Well then, 349 may very well not be a reference to location.” Fowler said thoughtfully, “But, I’ll still get some of them to look into it a little further, you’re all dismissed for the day until I hear back.” And with that, the three left the room one after the other, the only noise being that of their footsteps as the office door once more was closed behind them.

Without a word, Gavin had taken off on his own, seemingly decided that he had other places to be and other things he had to do, barely sparing a glance at anyone else before hurrying off. Connor looked as his figure rushed around to leave, grimacing as the detective shoved a girl harshly to the side in his rage, leaving her flustered and very much so confused. That weird negative feeling arose once more in his mechanical chest, and he almost went to confide in Hank, who was currently clearing his work space before scraping up the keys for his car.

With a nod of his head, the older man gave a comforting pat to the android’s back as he guided them outside to the parking lot. Gavin was already there, as expected, fuming and fussing about for his own keys in his pockets. The lieutenant shrugged his shoulders at the other’s dilemma before clicking the lock button and opening the door quickly. Connor paused to observe Gavin’s reactions, monitoring his heart-rate as the number spiked the longer the situation went on. A hand flew to already messy hair as he tugged at the locks in frustration. Connor scanned him momentarily, only to find that there were no keys on the man and that his anxiety was steadily rising in regards to this.

“Phck!” Was the murmur, a gush of air that silently escaped the human’s lips, and Hank could already see Connor’s gears grinding as the android determined what to do in the situation. He begged, no, prayed, to whatever higher being controlling the universe, that Connor would find common sense and ignore Gavin, choosing to enter the car at any second. But of course, the universe had to humiliate the old man as Connor turned and began to make his way to the opposite side of the car. Hank could only groan and throw his body at the steering wheel in frustration, he was going to be either waiting a long time, or exiting the comfort of his vehicle to save the android’s sorry ass. He really hoped it was the former rather than the latter.

Connor began the short stride towards Gavin hesitantly, the build-up of what felt like uncertainty already settling within his bio components. It wasn’t something he wished to experience again. “Detective Reed, is there any way I could be of assistance?” The offer, surprisingly, did not fall on deaf ears, and almost miraculously, did Gavin appear relived to be pulled out of the pit of anxiety he was suffering in. The verge of a panic attack, Connor concluded, and decided to proceed cautiously with a safe distance between the two.

“Fuck!” He yanked at his hair again, a lip bitten to bleed in frustration, “I lost my keys and I need to fucking go! I gotta hurry the fuck up, I have places to be and things to fucking do, not that you’d fucking understand you dumb ass android… UGH!” The discriminatory language went past Connor as he nodded in understanding, not wanting to give the man a reason to lash out and direct his anger at him anymore. “I SWEAR they were on me, FUCK!”

“Doesn’t your car and key model have a GPS system installed?” Connor supplied, scanning the detective once more. Stress levels were alleviated, no shock there, but thankfully his heart-rate had begun to decrease as Connor spoke. Hank watched curiously from his spot, almost confused himself as to how it would all play out.

“I…I can’t find it because my stupid fucking phone died and I left the goddamn charger in the FUCKING CAR!” he bashed a fist against the hood with strength that should have surely left a dent in the metal, surprising Connor when there was in fact nothing there afterwards. The situation only seemed to aggravate the man even further, and the android was almost relieved to find that he could easily locate his keys himself.

“I’ve located your keys.” He announced after a few seconds of searching, connecting wirelessly to the little device that pin pointed them on a map as his LED flickered from yellow to blue. “You appear to have left them at home.” The current location of the keys made sense, with Gavin’s carelessness, so leaving the keys behind would have been the most likely outcome. Not to mention, cars no longer needed the keys in the ignition to drive, they were mainly there to unlock the vehicle. Leaving home, the car must have sensed the keys but lost connection on the way to work, hence the now rather angry detective who just clearly wasn’t having a good day.

That odd sensation filled Connor again, forcing him to feel all sorts of sadness for the Detective. He wanted all feelings to do with Gavin to leave him alone, he didn’t like negativity and he didn’t like having to figure out what it all meant. Hank had once said that some negative feelings were good, a contradiction to what they were called, but now it was becoming clear that while Connor didn’t know it was sympathy, it was exactly what Hank had warned him about. So the android placed a hand against the car gently, his synthetic skin creeping away from where his endoskeleton met with car, revealing the whiteness of the plastic beneath.

Gavin was mesmerised by the action, a look of utter amazement and pure disgust, mixing in confusion as Connor began to blink rapidly, stuttering as his LED flashed yellow. There was an awkward pause between the two, in which Gavin was no longer certain as how to react. With Connor frozen in place and eerily blinking his rolled back eyes, all he figured that he could do was make sure that Connor didn’t suddenly collapse in his presence. Gavin claimed he hated Connor and he wasn’t exactly sure if he meant it or not, but regardless of whatever his truest feelings were, he certainly did not fancy being caught with an unresponsive machine at his feet.

And then it was like time pressed play and said android was reanimated, hand pulling away as he smiled at Gavin nervously, the chime of a lock clicking alerting the two that the door was open and the car was functioning. There was a small pause of relief that coursed through Gavin as he opened the door and climbed inside. Connor watched as the Detective ungratefully turned on the engine and smirked as he heard it roar to life. He took a step backwards, allowing space for the car to reverse out of the parking spot, but not before Gavin had rolled down a portion of the car window to spare him an odd sort of glance. It held hesitation and grimace, but a roll of Gavin’s eyes later and the detective had nodded curtly towards him, eyes averting his gaze. “Thanks.” He whispered, but it was so quiet that Connor had to replay the audio another ten more times to be sure that he heard correctly.

With that, the vehicle had disappeared and left an astounded Connor in place, who was surprised himself to find that the detective lacked the hostility he was known to carry. But it didn’t matter, no hostility was better – more than he could have ever asked for, and so he recorded the moment as something quite rare, but not something he was opposed to seeing again, then moving  _finally_ , much to Hank’s pleasure, to enter the waiting car.

Said man took a small glance at the android before starting the engine with a twist of his keys, the old model of car being vastly different to Gavin’s latest technology. But even the detective’s was quiet outdated, Hank’s in comparison was just prehistoric, using such manual technologies that put most machines in the spotlight. Even the newer coffee machines were more elaborate in design and capacity. Sadly, they were more likely to cost more too.

“What the fuck was that all about?” The old man asked, a foot on the gas pedal as the car slowly reversed from its spot. Hank had an unreadable expression upon his features, which only made things harder for Connor to understand. He knew that the lieutenant was to find out either way, and to be honest, Connor wasn’t exactly sure what it _was_ that appeared so threatening.

He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly before deciding to set gaze on the quickly passing scenery, taking in the view of the more modernised landscapes with fewer trees and people outside. He sometimes wished he were able to experience Detroit before the large android introduction. “I’m not exactly sure myself Hank.” The robot said truthfully, taking particular interest at a specific woman and her dog, both jogging alongside each other in pace “Gavin appeared distressed and I offered to assist.”

“No, I get _that_.” Hank emphasised with a roll of his eyes, slowing the car as they reached an intersection. The faint beat of the indicator blinking, ticking like the sound of an analogue clock. “What I mean is — what the fuck was he so _nice_ for?” Connor returned to gaze out the front, in thought himself as he recalled the events at the parking lot.

He nodded in agreement before frowning, a failure to search for any reference that could be related to his situation. When nothing turned up, he decided that it was an anomaly, something to build a new database on and grow from there, learn and proceed as he interacted more. Hank seemed to find Connor’s approach suitable, and with that, the topic of conversation was dropped, along with the weird sensation that Connor had once experienced. It was quite the relief to say the least.

 

~~~

 

The car continued to drive as their destination grew closer; while usually it was ideal to go home after an early dismissal, it was almost one in the afternoon which meant that Hank, being a human, was hungry. So lunch it was, driving down the familiar road that lead to a small food truck labelled ‘The Chicken Feed’ that Connor was almost certain had violated a few health regulations in its time of business. Despite the usual protests, it was always a treat to visit Gary, the chef that worked there, as Hank had claimed he ‘makes the best burger in Detroit!” To testify if that was a true statement would be unknown, and something that Connor could not provide insight on, so in a deal to begin a healthier diet, he allowed just this once for them to visit the street food stall.

Eventually, the car was parked and the handbrake was set, allowing for the pair to exit the vehicle and make their way across the deserted street. This side of Detroit was rather close to the highway, which could be pointedly viewed if you turned your head to look. But the noise pollution that the traffic caused was muffled from the distance, and the only other cars parked in the vicinity had belonged to those who were also stopping by for a quick bite.

Connor remembered the first time he met Hank at the location. Admittedly, he had killed himself in a previous investigation by accident and Cyberlife had to send a new android with his memories intact to progress. The mental scarring that Hank had from the experience was certainly irreversible, but after a small discussion at a nearby table, he had reconciled and made a promise to not die again.

But now, this eatery was a place that the two visited on the rare occasion they were dismissed early for whatever reason – much like how they were today. Connor scanned the vicinity, surprised to find business blooming in a sense that they, for the first time, were not the only ones there. The two approached the side window, Hank hollering out to the man inside as the customers beside them had begun to make their way back to their own cars with food and drinks in hand.

“Ah Hank! The usual?” The man, Gary, smiled at the familiar face. “Connor, good to see you.” He nodded, a more curt presentation displayed. Connor smiled back warmly in response, knowing very well how much Gary was conflicted about Androids. They had shared a small conversation or what Hank described as “small talk” once in the past, to which Connor learnt that Gary had certainly been trying his best despite his own beliefs. Connor could appreciate that, but wished if only others would do the same – like a certain detective he knew of.

Connor shook that thought out of his head quickly, turning to scan the burger that Hank would consume in only a moments time from then. It was certainly not the healthiest option that existed, the sandwich packed with extra grease and the fattier side of the meats. The large soda that was now in Hank’s possession didn’t help ease the slight urge to smack it to the ground before excessively running it over with his heel either. A strange hatred for the burger was only evident in the android’s glare, as if accusing the food of the most sinister crimes in Detroit. It went unnoticed by the lieutenant who decided to take a rather large bite.

Connor handed the man a couple of serviettes as they made their way to a nearby table, already running an estimate for how far the sauce would dribble down his greying beard with the knowledge of the density of the condiment and the ingredients it was made of. His complex mind began to run some background checks on his systems as he patiently waited, feeling himself up for any sign of something present in his pockets. Connor smiled knowingly as he felt it beneath the sensors in his fingertips, the smooth roundness of a silver quarter pressing into the breast pocket of his button up. He went to fish it out, retrieving it in a fashion that caught Hank’s attention easily.

It was for “calibration” and his hand eye coordination, or at least it _was_ before it turned into a simple trick that he performed for his own enjoyment. Connor’s fingers fiddled with the piece of metal as it smoothly rolled across his knuckles, flicking upwards at the end before landing with a flourish into the other hand. The coin danced between his two hands, constantly flickering left and right as the sound of a chime followed the movements. He earned a slight chuckle from Hank as he continued to toss the 25 cents up in the air. “Still can’t figure out how the fuck you manage to do that.” Hank said, eyeing the coin interestedly. Another bite of the burger and as predicted, Hank reached for the napkin, dabbing it against his face.

“It’s rather simple Hank. All it consists of is a combination of balance and predetermined variables such as the size and weight of the coin and the force against it when thrown or tossed.” The explanation made enough sense, and with that, Hank laughed as he took a rather large slurp of his drink. He burped as he crumpled up the paper waste, another sip and then stuffing the trash inside the empty cup before tossing it in the conveniently placed bin besides him. He stretched his arms in front of him as he sighed, eyeing the coin tricks that Connor attempted.

“Lemme have a go.” He challenged, a determined look splayed across his face as the android paused mid flip. The coin landed in his flat palm automatically, before Connor displayed a look of amused doubt on his own face. He gave the coin over without any reluctance, watching carefully as Hank clumsily placed it in-between his own fingers and began to slowly pass it back and forth. “Boom, I’m a natural!” the self-compliment brought a fond smile to Connor as he caught the coin hastily, calculating the misdirected flick that slipped from Hank’s grasp. The lieutenant pouted in defeat, “Aw, come on Connor, I almost had it!” But instead, Connor shook his head before holding it up to view at a closer distance.

To anyone, it was merely a quarter that was worth very little, the coin blending in rather believably with the remainder of coins had it been placed inside a wallet for spending. But, this coin was not like others with the usual ridged edges being an obvious clue as to what the metal actually was. Rotated and positioned in a way that you could only find if you knew what to look for, the slightest of a crack could be found, forming the seam of two halves that split the coin at the side. A hole, so small it could barely be seen with good eyesight and lighting, was drilled into the curvature between two ridges.

Hank observed what Connor had shown him before watching it get pocketed away for safe keeping once more. “The fuck is that?” He asked, looking up to meet gaze with Connor.

“The coin can be pricked with a pin or something similar. Inside is a microchip that receives constant updates in increments of 500 petabytes every 5 hours, almost an entire exabyte before even half the day is gone.” Connor paused, as he saw the confusion build up in Hank’s eyes. He smiled before offering an alternative explanation. “An exabyte is equivalent to approximately 2 million personal computers, whereas 15 exabytes was the entire collection of data that the search company Google had collected in the year 2018.” A look of profound pride and surprise was placed on Hank’s face but the confusion for the relevance remained. “The microchip in the coin is capable of holding 300 zettabytes, much more that the average android’s processor uses in an android life span and equivalent to approximately 250 billion DVDs for every zettabyte. In any case, using a simple calculation, it’s determined that, with average androids living 173 years, converting that is 1 515 480 hours and dividing that further by the increments of every five hours, the chip will withhold 303 096 petabytes, times 500 petabytes for every upload every 5 hours, the results are a grand total of 151 548 000 petabytes of data.”

Hank stared dumfounded at Connor who smiled bashfully in response. Whatever the android had said, it was more than enough to confuse him and more than enough to make him relieved that he dropped maths in high school those many years ago. The last part he had understood Connor saying was how one ‘zetta-metta-thingo’ was equivalent to 250 billion DVDs, after that, the rest went in one ear and out the other, still not providing an answer as to what exactly the microchip in the coin was _for_. Seeing Hank’s state had Connor laughing lightly, a human action he found quite enjoyable.

“Let me try again – 151 548 000 petabytes is equivalent to approximately 151 548 exabytes. If I continue to simplify it to its most common format, this is 151.548 zettabytes of data that the average android produces in a lifetime. The chip inside can almost fit 1.98 rounded to the nearest hundredth, android life spans. Taking into consideration that I am not the average android and the most advanced prototype yet, more than double the expected is an astounding amount of storage data for my backups, in the emergency that my body gets destroyed.” Connor finally finished in hopes of making more sense, only to sigh as Hank continue to stare dumbly. He decided to try a final time.

“It’s a flash drive that my memories upload into on the off chance that my body is destroyed. I was merely explaining the math behind the amount of storage space it holds… but it appears that you may not fully grasp the idea of larger numbers.” Connor said slowly.

“Jesus fuck Connor, you gotta understand, you were just spewing numbers and made up fucking words like a kid with salmonella.” Hank said exasperatedly, rubbing at his temples in frustration. “But basically what you’re saying is that the reason you won’t let me try any more coin tricks is because the coin isn’t actually a coin, but a fucking secret pocket for a USB stick that’s got a copy of you inside.” The explanation was inaccurate in many ways but the point still made sense, and so Connor sighed as he shrugged his shoulders to signify that it was the closest he was going to get. Hank nodded in thought before letting out a shaky laugh. “Fuck, that was a rollercoaster of a ride…” He went to eye the coin’s outline in Connor’s pocket, focusing on the odd shape that it left. “Say… a gadget like that sounds hella fancy… where the fuck did you even get it?”

“As I have said in the past to describe myself, alike, the flash drive is worth a small fortune.  I place ambiguity on the price since it’s hard to determine such thing as is myself, but Kamski was the one who approached me after the revolution to hand me a, ah, ‘token of gratitude’ for his company and the countless android lives that had been freed. Although I do admit that he probably only truly meant the first of the two points.” At the mention of the inventor, Hank’s eyebrows rose in question, a funny taste in his mouth at the rather peculiar memory in relation to his encounter with the man. There was certainly mixed feelings about Elijah, on one hand, he had proven a point and helped nudge Connor towards the path of empathy, but on the other, he was quite the discreet man that never really appeared as he suggested.

“So, Kamski has you in his good books eh?” Hank mused, earning a stern look from Connor. The android knew of Hank’s hesitation when it came to him interacting with anyone that posed as a threat, this extended to Gavin as well, but unfortunately some predicaments just couldn’t be as easily avoided as others. Connor admired Hank for his protectiveness, to which he was not opposed, but he did find it slightly problematic when his endearing father figure refused to listen to his own beliefs.

“I suppose that’s one way of looking at it…” Connor paused warily, “But I assure you Hank, he isn’t a threat to me. You need not worry-“

“Ah, I know, I know, kid… Shit… I don’t mean to be so strict and shit… It’s just I’m worried about you and I’m… trying to keep an eye out… Parents protect their kids, ya know?” This was one of the few times where Hank had outwardly addressed the familial relationship between them, but each time he did, it brought an overwhelming sense of fulfilment to Connor, who suddenly would feel as if he was about to explode from his eyes. Crying, that’s what it was, tears – to which Connor discovered that ‘crying in happiness’ was a thing that humans did when overjoyed. It was a strange emotion, another one of those negative-happy feelings Hank explained before, but it wasn’t one like sympathy that Connor would have preferred to not be feeling, this time, the emotions were welcome. He leaned around the table to hug the man, a tight squeeze being offered in return as they held the loving embrace for a lingering moment. It was perfect.

A second more, and they had separated as Hank gave an encouraging pat to Connor’s shoulder, something he did when clearly proud of the android for whatever reason. They refrained from speaking afterwards, most likely a fear of spoiling the perfect mood, and so they silently began to head back towards Hank’s old car that sat alone on the other side of the street. Connor discreetly passed over his coin to Hank with a smile tugging on his lips, leaving the grateful man to enter his side of the car as Connor abandoned him to go around to the passenger side. Hank smiled softly at the metal, rolling it between his thumb and forefinger before placing it inside a small zipper pocket on the inside of his coat. A feeling of warmth buzzing around inside him, spreading to the tips of his fingers and toes as he patted the area of temporary safe keeping. Ever since his 9 year old son Cole passed, he hadn’t experienced such a loving feeling before, but knowing that his son presently –whether human or android it didn’t matter, he’d love them no differently— had trusted his person enough to give him the very essence of his being, it felt quite remarkable. When he’d get home, he planned on placing the coin in a special, safe place.

The drive back wasn’t as long as either had expected it to be, both taking less than a few minutes to register that they had arrived at the residence, car slowly turning into the driveway and resting just short from the garage. Connor had once insisted that Hank used it properly, only to be met with an abundance of items that littered the space as a sort of makeshift storage unit. Inside, he scanned multiple items that had definitely belonged to Cole once upon a time. Books, toys, even clothes, piled up in dusty moving boxes that hadn’t appeared to have moved in years. The android understood the grief the other had been through, so after discovering the part that had been locked away, Connor realised that while Hank’s mental health was getting better, there would always be some parts that proved difficult to leave behind. Very little was ever said about his other son, the one that Connor often found himself longing to meet, but when the topic did arise, it was always in the best of interest, proving to Connor how far Hank had come. It had gotten to the point where Connor was now the new owner of the second bedroom in the Anderson household, making him feel that bit more loved.

“It’s always funny how the ride home seems quicker than the ride there.” Hank commented, handbrake up as he pulled his key out of the ignition, adjusting the gearstick into parking. After double checking he'd locked the car stationary, the car door clicking could be heard as the vehicle bent downwards with weight and creaked as he exited.

“There is a scientific explanation to that.” Connor added, following in pursuit. “We find the car trip home longer as we are consumed with thoughts about the events of the day, whereas the ride to venues are found to be longer since there isn’t as much brain activity focused on anything in particular.” His small ramblings earned an entertained chuckle from Hank, who only gave Connor a look that crossed enlightenment and sarcasm. It was always strange to see human expressions contradict themselves – an art at which Connor had high hopes to achieve one day.

“Well look at you, got a little science fact for everything huh?” Hank grinned, producing the keys from the chain of others that would unlock the front door to their house. Fourth time lucky, although the old man was sure that the android had been messing with him when he claimed that it was the wrong key he had grabbed. Of course Connor would know which key it was, he probably could have picked the lock with a stick knowing his handy skills. But the door was eventually opened, and the lock clicking alerted the rather large St Bernard that shared the home with the two, a soft bark yelping in warning before Connor found himself practically engulfed by the 170 pound animal. He was knocked to the floor, something which probably would have caused serious damage to a human had he been one, but thankfully Sumo seemed to just know who was what and what was who. Some dogs were just talented like that.

Hank entered the home after shutting the front door, quickly placing Connor’s coin in a rather secretive spot before providing a roll of his eyes to the two as he made his way over to his couch. It definitely felt nice to be able to sit down and relax for once, turning to see Connor spoil Sumo with pats just made it that tiny bit better.

It reminded the man a little of Cole, and surprisingly Gavin, if he were honest with himself, although he wouldn’t ever let Connor know that they were once close enough for Hank to let the man stay over in a time of need. At least, not until it was necessary. But that acquaintanceship… friendship, whatever it was, had been in the past, a good full decade or so ago. But dang, had it really been that long? Thinking back, it indeed had, Cole hadn’t been born, but Sumo still existed, and if he recalled correctly, Gavin had just been kicked out of his girlfriend’s place without warning. He felt sorry for the poor sucker back then, but now it was a different dynamic, he wondered how Gavin was holding up on his own before realising who he was even thinking about, shuddering in attempt to physically distract himself from such thoughts.

Hank couldn’t remember the specifics nor did he care to calculate. Gavin was a different man now. A man who lived alone and independently. Constantly angry and irritable in attempt to probably keep the foundation of his walls up as a form of protection. He didn’t drink, no, everyone knew that and those who didn’t were surprised. He didn’t do drugs either, as a cop it probably would have looked bad. He did smoke however, and judging by the rate of how fast he went through a packet, it was evident that the man didn’t seem to care about the after effects. No, Gavin Reed was quite reserved about himself too. The only people who ever really knew anything more than his name and birthdate was Captain Fowler, but even that information wasn’t talked about, it was just in his records as a detective.

It appeared that Gavin didn’t mind his life being that way, and all the times, if any, that people could recall where he had a friendly demeanour were long burnt down.

 

~~~

 

Gavin’s house was almost as empty as the man himself, the only thing that seemed to even take up space aside from furniture was his apartment cat, a strange sort of trivia that he believed was his secret and no one else’s – that is, except Connor who’d detected the almost invisible hairs on his jacket once at work, but he knew better than to comment on the matter.

What had changed about him? He had quite the life once, he even knew that himself. His parents weren’t the best, but nobody’s ever were despite one’s belief. They tended to shout and have yelling matches, but it wasn’t so uncommon for such things to happen. No one could maintain a relationship without bumps in the road — that was impossible. True relationships argued about what mattered most and after thinking about it, maybe that’s where he’d gone wrong.

 He always felt off about his relationship with his girlfriend, something he had never experienced in the past with others. It could have been many things, the fact that some were guys and others were girls, or their personalities, or maybe even the fact that none had lasted as long as this one specific one did. Whatever it was, it did feel strange. Sure, they did the normal couple things; they had sex, they had dates, they appeared to be quite loving. But they never argued, perhaps it was the reason they fell apart eventually, because such a build-up of issues finally began to slip and fall out of control.

Gavin wasn’t sure if he regretted the relationship after she told him to leave. He left his guitar behind out of everything he owned. He didn’t care back then either. He had his certificates, he had his credentials, that’s all he needed. And so when she kicked him out in a frenzy, he just… left. There was a feeling of nothingness that followed him out, and with just the clothes on his back, Gavin had made the two hour walk over to Hank’s house in an attempt to seek shelter.

And oh yes, she had tried to contact him six months later, desperate to do anything possible. By then, Hank had already offered his support and Gavin’s nothingness was replaced with a terrible anger towards her. He blocked her from everything, and when she tried to seek him out in public, going out of her way to stalk him, he ordered a restraining order against her. It was too much, he didn’t need her anymore, he didn’t need _anyone_.

Ah, so that’s where it went south.

Gavin lay flatly against the mattress of his bed. He should be happy right now. He really should. He had a nice apartment, albeit empty and lacking personality, it was a rather descend piece of property. He had a nice TV, and nice bed, a fridge full of food and a bank full of money, heck, even an orange Tabby to complete his own space. He didn’t have friends though. Maybe that’s what was missing…

As the lurking feline jumped onto his chest to curl into a ball and sleep, Gavin scrunched up his face in disgust. No. He did not need friends either. They were all going to fall down the same path as his relationships and that was something he did not want to risk. Trust was a feeble thing many took advantage of, it was better to treat it like a priceless jewel than to let others trample all over it carelessly. Past experiences told him that it was better to keep your trust for yourself and companions that weren’t human.

His mind then wandered to Connor – companions that were not humans or androids either then, strictly nice pets that wouldn’t ditch you to pursue a thief while another perp beat your face in because ‘the odds were in your favour Gavin’. He groaned, startling the cat as he dragged a hand down his face exasperatedly. The ceiling began to appeal to him more than it usually would.

His thoughts were thankfully cut off by the vibration and chimes of his phone. An old model, rather outdated considering the technology that was now available to the public. He picked up the iPhone X in hand, patting around his head on the bed mattress in search for the rectangular device. Dragging it towards his face, he stared at the caller ID, breathing a sigh of relief as he recognised the number. With a slight shift, cringing as his cat awoke and pounced off him like a springboard, Gavin slid a thumb across the rather dark screen, the green phone button gliding along in response. The phone immediately stopped tingling, and the screen switched to show a panel of call options available. Instinctively, he placed the device between his shoulder and ear as he sat upright, legs crossed as he bent forward to scoop his cat into his lap.

“Reed, speak to me.” He greeted. His cat softly purred before settling once more in his embrace, bringing out the softest smile he had. He ran his fingers through the soft fur, snuggling the animal closely to his chest as he soothed the creature silently.

“Detective, glad one of you answered.” It was Fowler, and judging by the sound of things, he was rather tired from whatever he had been previously occupied with. “I need you, Anderson and Connor back at my office immediately, we’ve pinpointed a location, and unlike the last few, it appears that the hacker _wanted_ us to find it.” His small briefing caught the detective’s interest as he dislodged the phone from his shoulder and ear, craning his neck to avoid cramps. With one hand still on his beloved pet, his other dropped the phone on his bed, hitting the button that soon made the call come through the loud speaker.

“Location? ’Bout fucking time.” He rolled his eyes despite knowing very well that the Captain couldn’t see him. “I’ll be there in ten.” He stated, eyeing the calico that had decided now was the best time to begin wandering over his legs. He watched with mild interest as the cat pawed at his shirt, another that was most likely to end up with holes in the middle. Gavin swatted at the cat gingerly, an attempt at telling him to stop, as to which he thankfully did, but not before stepping on Gavin’s phone and jumping off of the bed to stalk away, tail swishing behind in an almost tantalising strut. Gavin rolled his eyes, returning to the conversation he was having.

“Good, see you shortly then.” Fowler had responded, the call cutting out seconds afterwards, leaving Gavin with the echoing beeps that rang out. He sighed, stretching his arms before pocketing his phone and patting himself down for his set of keys. He was secretly relieved that Connor had decided to help him earlier, although his ego wouldn’t allow him to outright admit it. The stress and anxiety that it had brought him was brimming the verge of a mental breakdown, which was avoided thankfully, but only due to Connor’ ability to be too damn nice for his own good.

And goodness, how was he supposed to act _now_? Hank had surely seen his odd thanks as he drove off, and Connor was certainly confused as to what it had all meant, heck, even Gavin wasn’t sure. When he arrived at the precinct, it was going to be all sorts of dread that flowed through his body, he could only anticipate what was in store for him.

With that in mind, he let out a strangled cry before forcing himself off his bed, pulling his shoes on and slowly trudging to his front door. He turned to eye the cat, by now sitting on the kitchen counter somehow with what looked like a smug face. Gain rolled his eyes before waving to the animal, pointing at the refilled food bowl before throwing the door open. He was met with a rather blinding light, eyes not yet adjusting to that of the sun as he stumbled through the doorway and slammed the door clumsily behind him. Down the small flight of stairs, and his own car was there, waiting for its owner to just open the doors and set into motion.

He double checked that he had his keys on him before continuing, settling inside and dragging the seatbelt across his body quickly. With a flick of a switch, the car sensed the keys in his pocket, tucked safely away, as he turned the wheel in the desired direction. The drive to the precinct was about 5 minutes estimated, and he knew that it could be quicker if the traffic was in his favour, to which of course it wasn’t because good luck and Gavin? That was just a recipe that never ever mixed like water and oil. He groaned internally as he head-butt the steering wheel in agony, the wail of his car’s horn screeching in protest to the rest of the world. There wasn’t any better way to describe his current mood.

The traffic light quickly flickered from red to green, signalling the automated cars around him to begin driving. Gavin glanced at the neighbouring drivers, if they could even be called that. The newer cars were certainly nothing compared to the futuristic ideas his childhood movies had dreamed of, they didn’t fly nor teleport, but they had certainly rendered licenses useless. In fact, you had to pay more if you intended to use your vehicle without the autonomous function, something which Gavin’s car did not use. It was fairly old, in the eyes of society, but to him, it was the most advanced car he had ever seen. Teslas were the world’s first electric cars, but the market quickly moved on once driverless vehicles were certified. Gavin wasn’t so sure about how to feel about them.

He certainly wasn’t a stickler for stopping progress, but there was a degree of control that he preferred for specific things. Gavin eyed the road ahead of him as he continued to make his way down the street, a single hand expertly steering the system as he began to fiddle around for his phone, clicking his tongue in relief when he located its presence. Good thing he had it.

The remainder of the car trip was ended relatively quickly as the detective strategically reverse parked into his allocated spot. He scoffed with a tossed look to his side, eyeing the lieutenant and Connor who had seemingly managed to arrive at the same time despite getting the memo after him. It didn’t matter however, he answered the phone first which meant he technically already beat them. Without sparing a second longer on the pair, he hurried to exit his own car, clutching tightly at the phone that rested against his pant leg. No, he didn’t really fancy remembering the _last_ conversation he held in the parking lot. That was merely an hour or so ago, not very much time for either parties to forget, but enough for Gavin to grit his teeth in an attempt to eradicate the slowly spreading redness of his face. It wasn’t working, clearly to Hank’s own amusement, so Gavin picked up the pace in his steps, practically racing inside the building as he threw his hoodie over his face.

“Does he really think I’m gonna laugh at his dumbass from earlier?” Hank shook his head, chuckling towards Connor, “The guy’s more sensitive than me – and that’s saying something.” The android chose to not respond as he trailed behind Hank quickly, not skipping a beat as they entered the precinct for the second time that day. They found that it was oddly quiet considering the amount of people that currently occupied the space, and the hustle and bustle was kept to a minimum of a whisper. After a quick inspection, Connor had denoted that less than half of the IT faculty remained since that morning, and even fewer officers were lurking around, all either having left or about to leave for their patrol shift.

Connor spotted a rather flustered Gavin who was already seated inside Captain Fowler’s office, the hood of his jacket concealing any sign that suggested he was embarrassed. It was only Connor’s scanners that were able to deduce the facts with obvious heat signature readings.

They made their way to the waiting two hastily, salutations aside as Fowler nodded in acknowledgment of their presence before seating himself behind his desk. He gestured a hand towards the two remaining seats besides Gavin, who had chosen the one on the far right to get comfortable in. Connor took the seat in the middle, an attempt at becoming a sort of wall between the two tense men beside him.

“Right.” Fowler began, gathering a collection of papers as he stacked them together neatly, tapping their edges as a way of compiling the loose documents. “We’ve hit a bit of a breakthrough with this current predicament, with your area codes and patterns, IT managed to trace the IP address and mind you – it was one of the hardest things to crack in the goddamn world. Whoever is behind this, they’re smart, and good with their tech.” The captain analysed each man’s face carefully before continuing, “Turns out, the area code is actually based in New York – 934, which thank god, it’s closer than Florida.”

“Wait… _we_ are gonna go get them?” Gavin spluttered, “Why don’t you just fucking get the NYPD to go after whoever’s ass is there. Go to the 99th precinct or whatever, don’t they have that goody two shoes dumbass Jake Peralta there? He can take the case.” Gavin scoffed, clearly unimpressed with the current situation. Fowler sighed, massaging his temples in frustration.

“No, trust me, I’d rather they dealt with this than send my best men out… but, since this perp has infiltrated multiple servers in Detroit, we have to take them into custody.” Fowler looked pointedly towards his computer screen as he dragged his keyboard towards himself, typing as the keyboard clacked obnoxiously.

“Sir, if I may, this crime while severe could be just as-“

“Hey, I didn’t ask you how to do my fucking job, alright?” Fowler said, eyeing the android warily, “I’m Captain and I’m making the decisions.” There was a subtle pause, such as one in movies where a huge bomb would be dropped or something that thickens the plot is revealed. Gavin’s anticipation began to eat at him as he frowned, waiting along with his other colleagues. Fowler opened his mouth to speak, an odd feeling creeping down the men’s back as he spoke. “Within your time outside the precinct… another message came through which, admittedly, helped to pinpoint the location.” Fowler cleared his throat, eyes downcast. If Connor knew anything from his extensive research into human body language, he could easily determine that the man was unsure, proving his point the longer he hesitated. “The message was a threat that pertained to the reason you three will be travelling to New York and aided by their back up. The details disclosed were in specification for a member of your team and are aware onto them. After a few minutes, we managed to pull the plug so there’s no information available for them to gather.”

“The dude knows we’re onto them?!” Hank repeated, sighing as he scratched at his head, as if it made it easier to think. “Fuck… did they say what they wanted?”

“No, they claimed they’d release information to the public that really can’t be out there, it’s in the best interest of Detroit that you find and apprehend this hacker. You three are the ones to do it because they’ll probably be expecting you three to switch out with others as to not cause suspicion. Little do they know, we’re playing reverse reverse psychology on their sorry ass, because they probably wanna spite us by thinking ahead, so we’re gonna do exactly what they think we wouldn’t.”

“Ok, fine, but Peralta honestly could just do it for us.” Gavin grumbled tiredly, rubbing an eye as he folded his arms, slumping back into his chair. Fowler eyed the detective’s posture questioningly before swallowing down a comment on his manspreading. He didn’t really want to deal with Gavin’s uptight attitude right now.

“Detective Peralta is currently undercover for the FBI, in any case, I don’t care about what other excuses you have, the three of you will be taking one of the DPD choppers immediately.” The monitor in front of him was thrust in Connor’s direction who immediately began to scan the contents of the screen, saving them to memory before transferring the data over to his own systems within a blink of an eye and the contact of his hand to computer. “Connor’s got the instructions, plan effective now, I’ll wait for your call when you arrive.”

“Wait, we leave _now_?” Gavin stared.

“Yes, what part of ‘plan effective now’ do you not understand Detective Reed? Must I really repeat myself?” When Gavin refused to reply, sheepishly staring like a goldfish at his superior, Fowler sighed before waving a hand to shoo the men away, shaking his head as the detective stiffly stood up and stumbled his way to the office door. Hank gave the man a wary look before dragging his eyes towards Gavin, analysing the former’s posture as he stood, patiently waiting for Hank to open the glass door. He frowned in thought, before turning to leave and hold the door for Connor. Gavin walked silently by, as if he couldn’t see Hank and Connor and paused to wait a little way away. The lieutenant and android shared a confused look, Gavin still seeming distant as Connor began to give an address for where they were to pick up the chopper.

“Kay.” Gavin mumbled, another surprise as the acknowledgment proved he had been listening. Following behind Connor, the three made their way to the curb of the street that the precinct was based at, the LED on the android’s head flickering yellow as he willed for a taxi to pick them up. Multiple cars passed them as they patiently stood in the afternoon sun, neither talking as they waited, occasionally throwing a concerned glance to Gavin as they shifted on spot. Even Connor was becoming restless, something which wasn’t relatively easy for an android to achieve as they didn’t need to constantly move to keep the blue blood in their body pumping.

That’s what their thirium regulator bio-component was for, the small valve that fit snugly in-between the inner breast plates of an android, circulating and filtering out the blue blood; thirium, and passing it to the other bio-components that androids required in order to remain functional. Connor had once tried to explain the complexity of android anatomy to Hank, but the only thing that the lieutenant learnt by the end of the extensive 4 hour lecture, was that if he _really_ wanted, removing the audio processor that was lodged behind Connor’s ear would disturb all sound input. Although, there weren’t really any reasons that he could think of that would make the idea useful, so for now, it was useless knowledge that he held.

“Gavin.” Connor spoke lowly, but it was enough for Hank to just hear. There was no response, no snide remark, and no nod of his head which was certainly out of character for the man. The android scanned him for any unaccounted injuries but paused when he detected none. The only number that crossed his sight was the steady stress levels that were currently way too high for even the detective, perching at an astonishing 87%. It was quickly deducted that the stress was what held Gavin in a tranced state, to which Connor was trying desperately to figure out the causes.

 

~~~

 

By the time the taxi had arrived, and the three had seated themselves at the back, each other’s legs squished against the other, Connor picked up on the 7% increase of stress. He didn’t know what would happen if a human reached 100, and something told him that he didn’t particularly want to find out. He knew that deviants would self-destruct by that stage… would Gavin try to jump out of the helicopter? His concerned face reached Hank’s sight, and it was then that the old man knew he’d have to say something, less the angry flashes of red from the android’s LED warning him.

“Alright, let’s sort this out.” Hank nodded, turning his head to eye Gavin. The man had been staring at his lap since entering the driverless vehicle, as if on autopilot as he guided himself to sit and click in his seatbelt. His hands were clasped rather tightly as the bone and tendon could be identified through the whitening of his knuckles. “Gavin, can you hear me?” the man that sat idle between Connor and Hank continued to stare profusely at his hands. “Gavin, if you don’t respond, I’m going to elicit a response from you via touch.” The warning fell on deaf ears, and so Hank gently placed a hand over the two that had begun to shake. A study of Gavin’s face showed he was paler than usual, his signature scar that stretched across the bridge of his nose a pinker shade that was protruding against his pasty complexion.

Connor frowned as the stress levels increased a tad more— 96% was not so far from 100. Hank gently shook Gavin’s hands before shaking his shoulders with a bit more force. And suddenly, the man jumped like he had been electrocuted, the colour of pink and red flooding his face as he hurriedly took in his surroundings. “The FUCK!?” He had yelled loudly, far louder than it was necessary for the small space the three were crowded in. His voice vibrated off of the windows and caused Hank to wince. Connor merely reduced the sensitivity to his audio sensors, before analysing the man again. Whatever he had been thinking about was the obvious source of stress, clearly indicated by his levels dying back down to a steady 77% as he glared with pure rage at Hank. “What the actual FUCK Anderson?! Keep the fuck away from me or god so help me I’ll—“

“Jesus fuck, a thank you every once in a while when I save your sorry ass would be nice.” The older man cut in, rolling his eyes, “You were on the fucking verge of a panic attack and this is the help I receive, not worth it at all.” Connor nodded in agreement. So that was it, a panic attack, the detective had been preoccupied by something to distract him from his surroundings. At least Connor knew that 100% stress for a human would not be nearly as devastating as it would for an android. But what had gotten the man so worked up specifically?

The automated voice of the taxi rang out, signifying that they had arrived at their destination, doors sliding open automatically. And as Gavin shoved past Connor to exit first, the android caught a glimpse of the slowly rising stress levels once more. And then it made far more sense to him than before, an empathetic smile pulling across his lips as he began to make his way towards the human, deserting Hank who was left to pay for the trip.

“Gavin.” Connor mumbled, making sure that Hank definitely wouldn’t hear what he said next, a quick glance confirming that he was far to occupied with how to work the driverless car than eavesdrop on the conversation. “I don’t understand how you feel, but I want to assure you in the sense that it will be perfectly safe to travel by helicopter. The flight will only be approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes, and through that time nothing will happen to endanger you.”

The man a little way ahead of him paused abruptly to whizz his head around and stare at Connor incredulously. Connor expected him to yell, to shout, to kick up a hissy fit and make sure that the whole world knew how much of a prick he was being to an android that was simply trying to offer help. But Gavin closed his mouth for the fourth time in a row after attempting to say something that would meet halfway between hostile and appreciative. He discovered that there really wasn’t any way to go about such thing.

He rubbed a hand at the nape of his neck sheepishly, shoes becoming an interesting piece of clothing to stare at. “Sure, whatever.” He grumbled, turning to make his way to the elevator before them. Connor smiled as the stress percentage dramatically fell to 40, happy to know that he had some sort of positive effect on the detective despite his hatred.

The elevator was called with a single press of a button, the only one on the wall, pointing upwards and laying flatly against the wall. It was certainly in an interesting location, appearing to be the only thing the rather fancy building was made for. Hank caught up after a few seconds of waiting inside the machine, glass doors held expectantly as the man entered, passing off a concerned look to Gavin before hitting the button for the rooftop.

The little glass box closed its doors as it rose, the heavy weighted feeling lowering into Gavin and Hank’s guts as the ride slowed to a stop and revealed the bright sun. Stepping out, a large yellow circle was painted on the floor, lights littering the circumference in even spacing as a giant letter ‘H’ took up the space inside. On top of the helicopter pad laid a rather sleek looking chopper, painted a bright white with blue accents on the propeller and blades. A small rectangular scanner was set into the side of the door, to which Connor covered with his hand, endoskeleton touching bases and transferring data quickly. The door shifted and with a click unlocked, sliding aside on its own accord to make room for the three of them. Hank entered first without question, idly staring at Gavin and Connor in understanding. He’d have to tell Connor that he wasn’t exactly deaf and could still hear him when he mumbled, but perhaps that was best for another time where Reed wasn’t so close by.

“Fear is powerful.” Connor nodded to Gavin, arms outstretched in a guiding path towards the aircraft, “I’ve been terrified of many things in my short existence, don’t let this hinder you now.” With that, he began to make his own way as a leading example, Gavin in tow as the human hurried to push past the android, jumping in quickly to sandwich himself in the middle. Hank rolled his eyes as Connor entered, placing his hand on the singular control panel inside and starting the helicopter up. The side doors slide shut and with a pop, the small area was airtight and filtering oxygen to breathe. The seats shook lightly as Gavin sucked in a shallow breath, staring out the cockpit as the main rotor blade started up. And suddenly, the landing skids had lifted from the ground and the tail rotor began to spin faster.

Nose tip downward, the helicopter began to move forward at a relatively even pace, tail boom tilting upwards slightly as the ground beneath bled into a blur of colours. Hank took note of Gavin’s posture before sighing sadly. A reassuring pat offered as the man gave back a terrible glare. His ridged form did nothing to help alleviate the stress however, and soon Gavin found himself longing for the reassuring touches as a form of keeping ground. He hated how contradictory he could be but in this time of petrifying fear, his self-consciousness still managed to win him over. Hank couldn’t believe how stubborn the detective could be, watching as his own hand was swatted away from offering any form of comfort, and instead replaced by Gavin’s feverish tapping. Hank gave another pat anyway, awkwardly turning to look away as the three sat in silence. 1 hour and 30 minutes was not going to pass any time soon.

“What’s the name of you feline companion Detective Reed?” Connor piped up suddenly, earning an amused chuckle from Hank and a look of utter disbelief from Gavin. Proudly, Connor began extracting resources as a potential way of distracting the man from his fears, and by the looks of Hank’s face, he was following along the android’s example, but perhaps more so that there wasn’t an awkward silence instead. “How did you find yourself a tabby?”

“How the fuck you know that?” Gavin mumbled, frown on his face as he suddenly forgot his current situation. Connor knew that revealing the information he knew about the detective was a risky choice to make, but he continued with it, in the hopes that it would strengthen a bond instead of tear down the already frail one they shared. “No one fucking knows anything about my life.”

“The cat hairs on your jacket, I’ve known this fact about you for a little while now but only felt it necessary to mention now.” Thankfully Gavin didn’t seem to understand the logistics of ‘necessary to mention now’ and paid no further attention to it, deciding to angle his gaze at Hank exasperatedly. “Is he always like this? Snooping in other people’s shit?” Hank laughed and nodded.

“Picked up on Sumo’s shedding that I swear I can never fucking get rid of, and now my dog is greater friends with him than me.” He shook his head teasingly at Connor who blushed embarrassedly, “Anyways, don’t avoid the question, what’s the name of your cat?”

“Pancake.” Gavin supplied quietly, astonished to find that neither had attempted to make fun of the tittle. He frowned for a second, Hank and he hadn’t been so buddy-buddy in a long time and talk about the latter’s dog brought up memories of the past.

“Pancake is a nice name.” Connor complimented, that dumb goofy smile that would constantly aggravate Gavin was smeared on his face. Seriously, how could that android be so happy? How could he not regret such things? He was responsible for thousands of deaths, he was responsible for thousands of androids and humans, a true embodiment of power. He frowned, humans would feel the weight of their actions, but Connor wasn’t human, he was a machine, and that was why he felt nothing. Gavin felt sour.

“Yeah, well I don’t really need your input.” He snapped harshly, taken aback when Connor only nodded. Now he felt guilty. Crap, stupid human emotions, always getting in the way of things. He stared at Connor in thought. Perhaps being an android truly was the better way of life because then you wouldn’t have to worry or feel anything. But the android merely began to talk about other subjects, addressing Sumo once more in defence against Hank’s earlier accusation.

“I like dogs, Sumo is a good dog, I like Sumo.” Connor said matter-of-factly, as if it were that simple and there was nothing more to it. “It isn’t my fault if he likes me more.” Hank scoffed at the self-proclaimed fact, rolling his eyes in doubt. Gavin bit his lower lip angrily as a pang of jealousy struck him in the face. Oh no, he wasn’t about to become envious over an android was he? Out of all androids, why Connor? Sumo was a fucking dog, probably didn’t even remember him from all the years he’s changed since. Why was there any point in feeling upset by such thing?

“Yeah, like I fucking care.” Gavin huffed, “We get it, Sumo fucking likes you, no need to rub it in dumb Scrap Metal. Lucky you, whoop-dee-do, Sumo likes you, Hank likes you, everyone in all of Detroit praises you and the androids worship you like the third coming of Christ since your best android buddy already appears to be fucking robo-jesus himself, great job! But you know who _doesn’t_ care? Me. So, you know where you can shove-“

“Ok, that’s enough.” Hank called out sternly, but the expression on his face was rather sombre. “Connor hasn’t done shit to you so I don’t think it’s fair to be-“

“I don’t understand why you would feel such ways Detective Reed.” Connor cut the man off, frowning in the slightest, “There are many things that you possess which I too would like in turn, however I know that I wouldn’t ever be able to obtain due to my being.” The confession was a surprise for Hank and Gavin, who stared dumbly at the android. All that Connor could process was questions at that point, wondering as to _why_ he felt the need to become suddenly so personal with someone who lacked the want in friendship. Why had he just done that? Why had he reacted so quickly? Surely enough, the same questions were running through Gavin’s mind who for the life of him, was surprised to find that Connor was envious of _him_.

“Oh really? Like what then Mr I-am-Cyberlife’s-Advanced-Prototype?” Gavin challenged, the sense of pride and smugness seeping through the genuine curiosity his question held. He wanted to know for some bizarre reason. Maybe because he also wanted someone else to be as insecure as him. Maybe because he wanted Connor to be weaker than him so he could finally prove to himself that he wasn’t. Hank went to speak up before Connor gave a reassuring look in response.

“Well… there are many things… you had the chance to grow up, explore what it means to become a person, me? I was always predetermined to be _something_ and even after that, I was never to be the final copy, a replacement. You are unique. I have other android copies of my own self with my own memories up until I deviated, there is an android in the current workings called the RK900, and he will be a better me…” Connor’s voice died out as he paused, an odd mixture of blue creeping up onto his cheekbones like a strange sort of blush. “I am not built to enjoy the simple things. Being a prototype, I cannot be fitted with upgrades like other androids, enabling me to eat… or feel…pleasure and intimacy… or even dream.” He stared the Detective in the eye, “But _you_ can, you have those opportunities available to you because you’re a human… I never will, so in a sense, yes… I envy you.” The small speech rendered Gavin without one, and Hank to blow a low whistle as he nodded in acceptance for Connor’s feelings. There was a second of silence as Gavin studied the LED that flickered yellow.

“Taking shits in the bathroom ain’t all that fun…” He paused, “You’re not missing out on much.” He nodded, and for the first time, Gavin allowed himself to be seen in a light that he once shone in, back when he was a vulnerable newbie to life and the world around him, back when he knew no better and had no walls. This time was very much similar.

Connor chose this moment to address something from the tangent that Gavin had gone on, picking and choosing his words carefully as to not offend. “I’d like to know… you mentioned Sumo in a familiar context, was there a time the two of you were considered close?” Hank and Gavin exchanged an uneven glance as Connor attempted to correct himself, “If this is something you both prefer to withhold then I perfectly understand—”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that.” Gavin turned to stare, eyes glossing over the window in front of him, looking but not really acknowledging the scenery. “We were… friends.” Gavin had appeared to have reached his limits in the topic, and so Connor decided it was better to move on to another conversation but before he could, Gavin had already begun to talk again. “It was a long time ago huh?” The man breathed thoughtfully, looking at Hank for confirmation who only nodded in response. “Yeah… dumb bitch ex kicked me out for no reason, there’s nothing more to it. I built my walls up, so it wouldn’t happen again…” he stopped. “And here I fucking am.”

The helicopter ride had certainly gone down a different path compared to that of which Connor and Hank had originally thought it would. Nevertheless, it was always good to get things off your chest, and some of the information learnt had proven to explain a lot. Gavin once regretted speaking, but now, was it so bad? As the helicopter began its decent in the sky, Connor strongly believed that this had all happened for an important reason and the fatalism behind it was the cause.

Ironically, destiny was an odd idea that Connor had been familiar with, even going as far to believe small portions of the ideology. But of course logic was his world, he was an android after all and he knew that realistically, there wasn’t an ‘everything happens for a reason’ explanation. So why did an intuitive feeling pester him? If he had asked Gavin or Hank, both would have replied with the same response, but he didn’t, so he left it at that.

The helicopter landed in a rather soft way, unlike the belief that there would be a crash and fire and mass havoc around the helipad. Gavin was surprised himself to find that he had made it through the entire flight without throwing up once, and only after realising that Hank and Connor had been aiding him, did he feel conflicted as to how he should react around them. “Ok assholes, let’s get a fucking move on.” Wasn’t exactly the ‘thank you’ Connor had been after, but he and the lieutenant both knew it was a step forward in the right direction, old habits die hard after all.

Their exit was met with the entrance of two officers, each decked out in rather casual attires, a badge swinging loosely from one’s waist on a lanyard as the other procured their own from their pocket. “This is Detective Charles Boyle, I’m Detective Rosa Diaz, we’re with the NYPD, here to escort you three to the 99th precinct.” The woman called out. Her physique was rather slim and covered in black leather. Her face held a stoic expression, arms folded in a way that suggested she was quite up tight, and by looking over to the shorter man beside her, Connor predicted that she carried a sense of strictness around her.

She nodded her head curtly, dark locks of hair shifting as she moved. Connor scanned the two immediately, sure enough finding their profiles enlisted within the police database. He raised an eyebrow, smiling at the two before turning to introduce their group. “I’m Connor, this is Lieutenant Anderson and Detective Reed. It’s a pleasure meeting you.” Detective Diaz studied the android expectantly, glance scanning him up and down. She nodded again, wordlessly turning on her heal and beginning to strut towards the police car that awaited them downstairs.

“You’ll have to excuse Rosa… she doesn’t talk much, but it’s always nice to make new friends.” The man paused, clicking his tongue, “Although I’m afraid to say that I already have a best friend in case you were wondering and he’s none other than the amazing Detective Jake-“

“Boyle they don’t care.” Detective Diaz barked, eyes rolling plainly. She paused to eye the men behind her, eyes lingering on the LED embedded in Connor’s temple. “So, you’re an android…” she began, somewhat impressed by his presence. “We don’t have many you guys here... in my so many years, never got to work with one of you.” She nodded with an acknowledging smile, “Congrats… on freedom or…whatever.” With that, she began to descend the staircase besides them, ignoring the mixed expressions from the others. Gavin stared interestedly at her, she didn’t appear to be very well in tune with her own feelings and expressing them appeared to be another step she struggled to take. That was something he could relate to.

The four men followed afterwards, Detective Boyle beginning to talk about the beauty of Brooklyn and the best places when in search of food. Connor took notes while the humans tried their best to be polite, clearly uninterested in the cuisines the city had to offer. At least he was getting a few pointers on the healthier options.

Rosa had been waiting for their arrival impatiently, as told by the tapping of her boot. She eyed them as she unlocked the car door and jumped inside, hands already gripping the wheel as Hank exchanged a look with Gavin.

Once the car was closed and everyone was comfortably seated, the engine kicked to life with Rosa steering the vehicle rather hurriedly. Reed stared at the woman through the rear view mirror, examining the way her facial features glared at the oncoming traffic, voice calling out to the slower drivers on the road. Brooklyn had their automated vehicles, but it was clear that they weren’t as developed as Detroit, with still a fair amount of people behind the wheel.

Rosa hit the brakes a little too harshly as the patrol car halted, gearstick shifting into park as Hank realised that they had already arrived. The ride was rather short, and probably a good thing at that, the space inside being far too cramped for five fully grown adults to share the same air. It was rather claustrophobic. The woman in the front turned around to stare intensely at Gavin, who by then was shoving Connor to exit the car so that he would be able to be free from the confinements.  “So I take you’re a douchebag in your precinct?” She guessed, smirking in response to Hank’s snort of agreement. “It’s a shame.” She began, turning back to face the front, peering outside quietly, “If you were born like… 20 years earlier, I may have dated you. I have a really weird thing for cute asshole detectives.” And with that, she left the stunned man to himself as she slipped out of her seat.

Gavin wordlessly gaped after her, a look of confusion splattered across his facial features. “ _What_?!” he hissed but the comment wasn’t brought up again, as the small group entered the precinct before them. Gavin was left to wonder why the woman would even say such thing and Boyle shrugged, appearing to have been just as confused but somewhat expecting of the remark, before offering a hand to Connor and somewhat gaily skipping away. Connor held a lost expression on his face as he skipped in time with the man, surprised at the agility he held while Hank silently laughed. “The Nine-Nine is just a fucking nutcase.” Gavin shook his head, staring at the android’s figure.

“They’re helping us… but you’re right, they’re fucking crazy.” Hank replied, walking in a rushed way to keep up with the three ahead.

Once through the doors, Hank could finally say that he appreciated the space he worked in, being vastly bigger than the current precincts in New York. It was also a lot less advanced in technology, something of which Hank had never believed he would miss. The lack of Roombas bumping into your feet and automated systems available for your every need was something he wasn’t sure he could live without now that he’d become accustomed to the many new inventions of the century. The Nine-Nine was also cluttered, rather neatly in a sense but still not as modern and updated as back home with a rather traditional gate that was not automated in any way.

The group walked towards the rather old Captain’s Office at the back of the building, eyeing the woman inside.

“Captain, Detroit’s personnel are here.” The woman, roughly in her mid-50s although she didn’t look it, turned to smile, a hand offered as Hank shook it before standing up and nodding towards Diaz, sharing a few mumbled words with her before turning to shut the door. She span around with a dignified appearance before graciously returning to her desk and taking a seat along with Gavin, Hank and Connor. “Hello.” She nodded, “I’m Captain of the Nine-Nine, Amy Peralta.” Her introduction was short and sweet, already moving on to the topic at hand. “We’ve been alerted that the perp for your current case is hiding out somewhere here, and so I plan to lend any assistance if need be.”

Connor scanned the woman, ignoring the useless information that popped up as he added her to his database for future references. “Thank you Captain.” Connor smiled warmly, “We have indeed pinpointed the location of the perp to here in New York, you’re offer is greatly appreciated.” Hank glanced towards Gavin who by then only appeared to be paying attention to the android beside him. “If my estimations are accurate, we will be able to catch whoever is responsible for our server’s interference within the next few hours, if not days.”

“Excellent, I’m glad you’re able to calculate that detective…” Captain Peralta alluded, waiting in response for his answer.

“Just Connor is fine, this is Lieutenant Hank Anderson and Detective Gavin Reed.” Connor explained, “Tittles are quite objective to me, being an android.” The understanding flash in the woman’s eyes clarified everything, and suddenly she was breaking out into a wide smile. As Gavin would say, she was showing her ‘nerd’.

“Oh my gosh, an android?! This is amazing! I’ve been trying to get you guys to recruit but… I suppose our methods of advertisement aren’t as effective. It’s certainly a pleasure to meet you.” It appeared that neither she nor Diaz had recognised his face from that of the revolution, which surprised Hank who had anticipated a swarm of officers to be crowding around the poor robot. But it wasn’t exactly a negative either, the lack of knowledge would certainly be helpful because it would mean less attention drawn to their group, something of which was a fear to Gavin who already hated interacting with the two, let alone a paparazzi. He paused that thought – did Gavin _truly_ hate them? He didn’t want to think about that right now.

The captain laced her hands together as she played with a wedding band around her left ring finger, the circular piece of metal glistening with the diamonds that were encrusted. She eyed the lieutenant before sharing a look with Gavin, as if to study him in secrecy. “Right, well, you three have a case to close so I’ll let you get on with it.” She began, rising from her chair in example. “Feel free to use our systems if need be, and contact us immediately if you require backup.” Her cheerful attitude was cut off by the disruption at her office door, an accusatory glare shoved at whoever the culprit was. Upon looking, her face softened when Detective Diaz emerged from the doorway, a certain Detective Boyle in tow behind her. The captain sighed exasperatedly. “Yes Rosa?”

The woman reached behind her and snatched the man roughly, eyes not daring to break contact with her superior. Hank raised an eyebrow questioningly as Connor assessed Rosa’s stress levels, 22%, for a woman in her late 40s, it was quite a remarkable achievement. He glanced at Hank, the man could certainly do without a few things in his life. Connor would argue all burgers from _The Chicken Feed_ but he could already predict what Hank’s response to that would be; a solid no.

Detective Boyle _whimpered_ in the most pathetic way Gavin could possibly imagine, staring as he nervously glanced to the burly attitude that radiated off Diaz’s person. Was she really that menacing?

The woman, as if she could read minds, turned sharply towards Gavin, catching him off guard as she gave him a smile. “Yeah, people fear me. It’s good.” And then she looked at the captain once more. “ _He_ wanted to announce crap. I don’t care. Goodbye.” And that was that, Rosa’s head disappearing from view and instead being replaced by Boyle.

“I wanted to wait until you were done talking…” He said apologetically, earning an empathetic nod from Peralta. “But uh… Rosa has suggested I try and become more confident recently…”

“It’s really not your strong suit.” The captain agreed, as if comically prompted to side with the monotone woman. “But, that’s ok… Rosa means well – what news do you have?” And then the reminder brought everyone back on task, focusing on what the man had to say that was deemed so important. Boyle’s face lightened up as he nodded, a folder, which neither Hank nor Gavin had noticed previously, was procured from under his arm. It was traditional paperwork, there was no barcode or QR code that Connor could scan to upload the documents and merge with the already existing ones. Hank sensed the issue as the detective handed over the paper to him.

“We’ve got a few reports of ominous activity in one of the old apartment complexes that were scheduled to be knocked down. They didn’t want to tamper in case this was a high level threat, but apparently the electricity supply wasn’t cut off and the numbers have been high.” The explanation was punctuated with the point. “We think your guy is camping out there.” As Hank read over the file, Gavin began to analyse the location.

“Thank you Boyle, this is great help.” Captain Peralta dismissed, watching the man nod and give a tip of an imaginary hat before backtracking into the precinct. She chose to watch the three remaining men in her office, infatuated with how they were to go about their lead. She was always known to do such things, having an eye for good use of binders and stationary while somehow keeping on top of all her case file notes in the most complex of formatted systems. She recognised the troubled looks that the humans had displayed. “Is there a problem?” She asked.

“Yeah.” Gavin said flatly, not objecting to the surprised look the Captain had after he called out. “Connor can’t fucking read this shit and compare it to the files.” His vulgar language had the woman raising an eyebrow questioningly, somehow not completely offended at the tone and context the detective had used. She turned her head to Connor, as if to clarify that what the man had said was true. Hank sighed as he shot an unamused look in Gavin’s direction.

“That statement is not entirely accurate Captain.” Connor clarified, “I can read this document, however in order to advance my searches, I’ll need the exact police record so that I may interface with the information, construct scenarios, view images in a simulation and the like.” Gavin rolled his eyes as the android ran off into a tangent about his capabilities, almost envious of the fact that Connor didn’t need to do work like the rest of humanity would.

He paused mid mental rant, remembering their discussion in the helicopter. For all he knew, Connor was jealous that he didn’t have to struggle to open a jar of mayo or something even more pathetic. Gavin wasn’t sure exactly, but he was fairly convinced it would be something he took for granted and shit – now he was over thinking everything. “Usually a police record will have a barcode or QR Code for androids to scan, otherwise, reading the document is simply reading words.” He piped up, surprising Connor and Hank with the information he knew.

“Could you not scan the document?” The captain asked, already returning to her desks to feverishly type, searching anywhere for a possible digital file that could be sent to Connor. Who knew that androids could be so specific?

“Unfortunately not. There are a number of reasons but to put simply; the digital formats have coding I can manipulate.” And that was that, Hank staring curiously at the location listed and the background information provided as more obnoxious clacking of the keyboard echoed in the air. Captain Amy Peralta remained silent as she searched, the only sign that she had heard what the android had said being the single nod of her head as she rapped her fingers against the surface of her desk. The steady beat of _tap tap tap tap_ from her nails hitting the wood were harmoniously met with the faint hum in her voice. Her concentration was ceased however, when she clicked her tongue and her hand struck her table in triumph, quickly turning the screen of the computer towards Connor with pride.

“Boom, there’s your file Connor, all typed up and digitized as needed, courtesy of one of our newer detectives that work here. It’s a good thing that he did this. I mean, we do a _lot_ of the work electronically nowadays, but we don’t usually print a reference to the softcopies on the hardcopies… usually because the papers have been printed before transferred to an online format but anyways, here you are!” While the woman had rarely worked in the presence of androids, she had seen quite the numbers in Brooklyn in her time. From the moment when they were first introduced while she was in her late 30s and up until now, seeing the way such people worked was somewhat inspiring to her –no matter how much Rosa had insisted that she looked like a creepy stalker.

Connor smiled with gratitude before peeling back the skin of his hand in preparation for interfacing, something that Gavin had once again found himself mesmerised by. The faint blue glow surrounding the limb reflected against the computer screen as Connor made contact with it, downloading the file at a rate so fast, it was over as soon as it started. Hank made no comment, something of which was uncommon for the man to upkeep for so long, but not unheard of. It was actually Gavin’s compliance and silence that was more shocking, but if it enabled the three to get the case closed quicker and the perp behind bars, Connor didn’t mind so much.

“So, compare the files and we’ll see if it’s worth looking into.” Hank directed, already waiting for Connor to begin the comparison function. Sure enough, that was what Connor did, eyes rolling back in a possessed kind of way as his eyelids flickered open and close at a rapid pace. Gavin wanted to joke about the need of an exorcist when he met gaze with Hank and decided it would be better he said nothing instead, choosing to smirk to himself at the humour his inside joke brought. Connor regained consciousness only seconds later. A hand raised up as an image appeared like magic, spreading across the area of his entire palm. It was that of the building, then zoomed out of a map with a small dot pinging the location.

“I’ve just done a short analysis of the area and I have reason to believe that our hacker is indeed seeking asylum there, if we hurry, we can catch them before they decide to move. “ Connor informed, “I’ve just checked in with street cameras at that district – it’s obsolete, perfect for us to gain the upper hand if we sneak in undetected.” Gavin nodded thoughtfully as Connor lowered his hand down, holographic image fading away.

“Sounds like a plan.” Hank grinned, folding his arms in a way that suggested that the older man was rather keen on finally busting the guy responsible. “Guess we won’t need to be staying here for a couple of days either.” It was that final point that made Gavin realise just how lucky their situation turned out to be, somehow enabling him to feel a sense of happiness. It was strange to see the detective in such a good mood, but Connor wouldn’t be one to damper it.

The captain hesitantly smiled as she began to pull up some old paperwork, deciding it was in her best interest to get started despite the guests she had accompanying her. Hank was the first to notice, embarrassingly taking the other two outside of the office with a small wave, the woman’s hand waving back in response, not daring to take her eye off the page she was profusely writing on. A hard worker was she, but nobody could really blame her.

 

~~~

 

Out of all the traveling that Gavin, Hank and Connor had done that day, the one on the way to the apartment complex was by far the most absurd example of Gavin Reed’s behaviour. Both Hank and Connor could now clearly see it whereas before they brushed it off as a onetime thing. But he was _talking_ and of all things _laughing_ in, dare Connor said it, _their_ presence! Would Gavin permanently be this way now? Was it always to be expected that trips to and fro would consist of the nicer side to the detective? It would certainly make future investigations easier were they to be paired up again – and the idea didn’t sound as terrible as it would have been that morning.

The question was if Gavin felt the same way, and as said man began joking about the way Rosa instilled fear in her friends and colleagues, it didn’t seem so farfetched as to have hope that even Gavin Reed could change his ways. Hank had also new opinions on the matter but voicing them out to Connor would be a contradiction to what the android had seen entirely. Yes, for some peculiar reason, Reed was now far nicer to them than he had ever been to Hank in the past 15 years. But _why_? Surely there was an ulterior motive? Did he want something? Was he just that sadistic? The way Gavin laughed seemed light-hearted and genuine, much to Hank’s surprise. But the man couldn’t shake the feeling of suspicion off, like there was an unknown trap that Reed had prepared, and Connor was only falling for it even harder.

In the end, Hank had decided to just keep an eye out, and watch closely as to what Gavin did. He wanted to trust him, that, Hank knew. It was more than anything, the lieutenant so desperately wanted Gavin to stop being the dense prick that he made his life out to be and for once to see that not everyone was immediately out to get him – there was more to life than one idiotic girl that had ruined his trust in others. Hank felt mad for Gavin, infuriated that one person had managed to take away something so important to a man that it left him emotionally scarred a decade and a half later. It wasn’t fair, but Hank had learnt by now that life was hardly ever fair, everyone had to suffer to gain and sometimes there was really nothing you could do about it.

By the time the lieutenant had tuned back into the conversation that was being held, he realised that Gavin was in the middle of a deep analysis on emotions, something that Connor was taking rather seriously, as if to make notes and revise for later. “Life just fucking sucks.” Gavin spewed, in reference to something unknown. Hank guessed it was his past love life, and judging by Connor’s facial expression, the android had come to that conclusion also, at least they were on the same page. Gavin only sighed as he grasped the bar of the car door, holding himself steady as the automated police car turned sharply, courtesy of the NYPD. “Like, emotions and shit, they can all fuck themselves.” He went silent after that, as if waiting for someone else to answer to his open statement.

“I’m quite the opposite.” Connor said thoughtfully, earning a raise of an eyebrow from Hank, “I’ve been terribly sad before, even going as far as feeling regret for things I had done post-deviancy.” Perhaps Hank needed a couple of beers before being able to handle the types of things the two were saying, but alas, no alcohol to be found, drinking on the job was rather unprofessional. “But you know, I learnt that it’s the bad things that let there be good things. If nothing went wrong, everything would just be this flat, boring line, there would be no appreciation for the happy times. It takes the bad to see the good.”

Hank sucked in a breath as Gavin nodded in agreement, already planning what he would say in response. It was quite extraordinary, to see Reed this engaged in a conversation with another, and an android no less, which brought Hank back to his first hypothesis that everything that happened on that hour and a half flight was the reason there was now a discussion on the ideology of emotions. Gosh, Hank desperately wanted a drink by that stage, already tuning out the majority of what they had been saying.

A silence enveloped the three after a while of discussion, leaving almost nothing left to talk about. Connor had hesitantly asked about Gavin’s last relationship, once he was almost positive that there would be no negative consequences to his curiosity. The android wasn’t sure himself as to what was going on through Gavin’s head to make him react such way, but it was rather pleasant and something he admittedly wanted again. As for Gavin, retelling the past was something he came to terms with in a matter of seconds.

Was it a bad thing to be upset by an event in the past? Connor didn’t seem to think so, and with the knowledge that judgement would be reserved for his stupid ex – he opened up about a moment in his life that turned him into a vulnerable mess of a man. And it felt good. The build-up of tension and emotion finally releasing in a wave of words, that feeling felt like a million ton weight had been dumped into the ocean. Gavin loved it, almost forgetting that there had ever been a time where he wanted to so desperately murder the very android he was now sharing anecdotes with. Life worked in strange ways, but so did Gavin, who in that moment, decided that yeah, it wasn’t all _that_ bad to make new friends.

At first, looking back on his past mistakes were embarrassing, and only after he realised this did Gavin ultimately discover a major factor as to why he could never get over himself. He was human after all, and humans carried around a conscience like their life depended on it. Turns out, in Gavin’s case that was literal. Stuck in an endless cycle and loop, the detective had condemned himself into not trusting others from his one experience. From that, he began to push people away and hurt them, but that too hurt him because what kind of person didn’t have empathy? And this idea that pushing people away for the better eventually became his new normal, to which he figured that there was no turning back, the deed had been done. Connor had mentioned that accepting you can’t change the past had surprisingly opened a new door for him. That all he could do was change the future, and that if he focused on that, those bad things he did would surely make him appreciate the good efforts— just like emotions.

Now, if only he could communicate everything he had realised in his small epiphany without sounding like a cliché. Obviously, that wasn’t going to happen, so instead, Gavin opted to simply start, rest assured that with enough time, Hank and Connor would see his efforts.

With that, the conclusion of that trip had arrived, the group finding themselves at the entrance of the empty apartment complex in fewer seconds than it had taken to park the car and leave. The area surrounding the building appeared fairly traditional, with suburban houses littering the sides of the street for miles on end. In fact, the apartments themselves appeared to be fairly normal too, at least, as fairly normal as half a structure standing could be. But it still appeared rather welcomingly, unlike the expected haunted house façade, and so with that, Gavin pushed past the short, iron gate and stepped into the front lawn of the property.

The three exchanged a glance before continuing cautiously. Half the apartment complex had been demolished and left only a few select rooms intact upon entry. It was lively, the paint on the remaining walls captured the sunlight in a rather mesmerising way. The corridors were empty from furniture, as knocked down buildings were supposed to be, and the faint smell of what Gavin detected as plaster occasionally rose with the dust clouds underneath their feet.

The stairs had been left attached to the building thankfully, but only up to the 4th floor. With that, their sleuthing skills came into play and Connor used a copy of the building blueprints to locate the room in desire.  It wasn’t particularly hard, even if they had gone by the number they were given, but thankfully Connor was able to read heat signatures, and soon located the abnormal mass above their heads. It was almost too easy, impossible for such a threat to be taken down so quickly. Clearly everyone in that moment knew that something wasn’t right in some way but no one said anything.

They had trudged up the stairs and sure enough, once outside the door, Connor could hear a muffled whirring of what sounded like a person breathing and a computer fan spinning. And soon the guns were out, cocked and loaded with not a second away from shooting. Hank had signalled for the group to step back and with a bang, the door fell along with his foot, alerting the criminal to their presence. “NYPD! Put your hands where I can see them!” Hank hollered, already charging with his gun prepared. There was only silence that followed after, the group edging their way inside as they peered around the room. “Clear!” He finally called with a nod to his head, as he pointed towards the room opposite his position. Gavin had taken the initiative to enter the bedroom first, the rest of his team in tow behind.

In Hank’s entire lifetime of knowing the dishevelled detective, there was only ever two times he had seen him infuriated with dangerous anger. The first time, had been the day the young man came barrelling on Hank’s front door, hours after being thrown out by what was described as a “demon of a girlfriend” by the latter. But that was to be expected, heartbreak was not for the faint of heart, and Gavin was what Hank would call a ‘love-sick fool’.  The second time, something of which only he and Captain Fowler had witnessed, was the day of the announcement that told of Connor’s dispatch. Another threat, this time his job instead of his heart – the only thing that seemed to be what he kept rooting for after long ago shunting the precinct members to the side. The reddening of his cheeks as he bellowed insults and cusses, Hank had been silently agreeing in his mind, despite the strict tension between them.

Speaking of the android, Connor too had his fair share of moments in which Gavin was rather hot headed. It wasn’t hard, being the victim of almost all of Gavin’s taunts, but there was only one out of all the times had he seen the detective and determined his actions were truly worrisome. Admittedly, he _was_ snooping around the evidence locker, and he _was_ supposed to be decommissioned by Cyberlife, and there _was_ the revolution ongoing… but nevertheless, Reed’s rage had driven to a pure blind furry of attempted murder. There was never an apology for the situation, like how human social ethics had ruled, but Connor had understood that fickle humans didn’t always follow like the others.

This lead back to the current situation and how they were where they were, standing in an awkward mess at the archway of the bedroom in room 349. There were three gazes meeting with one oddly familiar one. The eerie swarm of emotions that rushed through each man as he stared. It was like staring into the same eyes that had always glared at Connor, the ones that narrowed and followed with a physical assault as he escaped that evidence locker. The same eyes that had reddened and spilt tears, and squeezed themselves shut as Hank consoled. They were the eyes that Gavin stared at in the mirror every morning and wondered _why the hell_ he was even bothering.

The girl smiled in a way that suggested she knew more than what was expected, and with a flash of _something_ that all three men could recognise so very well, she stood up from the musty mattress beneath her. “Dad, at last we meet.”

Ah, so _that_ was the plot twist.

Now, as you would imagine, finding a random girl, in a random apartment complex, who most likely was off the street mind you, being responsible for multiple attacks on DPD servers and then claiming to be the _child_ of Gavin Reed, the idea was preposterous. Even Connor was convinced it was a hoax, his system procured an 89% chance that the statement was accurate. People said strange things to avoid trouble, and yet… Hank’s opinion on the matter was convinced that there was a truth to what she said so he lowered his gun, signalling for the others to do the same. The girl was unarmed and simply standing there unthreateningly, but it was Gavin who refused the order and instead chose to keep the service weapon trained at the centre of her forehead.

Fear drew into her eyes, and it was then that Gavin had to take a deep breath because they were _his_ eyes and he had never seen so much _fear_ in them before. No, he was the one to create that emotion, whether it be in suspects, victims or colleagues, he had never been on the receiving end of such a powerful emotion. Was he really that terrifying? He finally lowered the gun, slowly releasing the tension in his muscles as he held a strong glare. He had known, somewhere deep down in his gut that even before she said anything, but now? How was he supposed to deal with _this_ situation? What was he going to do? What had happened? How was this possible?  He hadn’t been with anyone, he’d pushed people away. There had to have been a mistake and yet, to have his eyes, those same cold yet beautiful irises, it was almost impossible to say she lied.

“That’s fucking bullshit.” Gavin said, and he was sure he meant it had his voice not wavered slightly. “You aren’t my kid, lying to get out of juvie isn’t going to work.” The repetition of his belief made it no easier to accept as fact, and the more he tried to convince himself, the more he realised he was failing. But who was the mother? How did the girl find him? There were too many questions and not enough answers – Gavin hated not knowing anything.

“But… I am.” There was slight disappointment in her voice, and her form went slump in a way that suggested she thought he had recognised her. The girl paused as she contemplated Gavin’s reactions, slowly bending down with arms raised to lift the laptop that laid on the floor beside her feet. “Did mom not tell you? She told me you knew! She told me that…” She shared an uneasy glance with Connor and Hank, “She said you didn’t want me and that the minute you saw me you walked off and abandoned her… I didn’t want to believe her, so I did my research and found you were a cop. She lied again… didn’t she?” It was a dejected tone as she began to search her device frantically, all the while Connor assessing the detective’s ridged form.

“Perhaps there’s something from your past that you do not wish to accept Detective Reed?” Gavin shot daggered into Connor’s body with a glare that was so horrid it caused the LED on the android’s head to burn red. Connor decided to stay silent after that but Hank continued to analyse the girl’s actions, raising an eyebrow as the laptop was turned to face the three before them. A picture was displayed, and sure enough it was Gavin, of course it was Gavin, easily recognisable and yet so different. He was happy, actually smiling towards the camera with an arm looped around a young woman besides him in a restaurant. The girl present and the woman in the picture bore a resemblance that was strikingly well matched, and yet so different as her own facial features carried a variety of what could be picked out as Gavin’s own.

“I knew she was manipulative.” The girl went on quietly, “She didn’t deserve to become a parent, she was never good to be one…” Gavin eyed the girl and now, he felt the genuine fear in his chest along with the heart palpitations and the blood that drained from his paling face. It was a different fear than the one in the helicopter, he had always denied he had fears and had kept with that belief until now, where he stood almost shaking, as he recognised himself and his past in a photo he never thought he’d see again. The girl made direct eye contact with Gavin, eyes piercing his gaze as if to see into his soul, before watering, edges reddening as silent tears fell. “I knew she was terrible, she didn’t care about me, all that mattered were the men in her room and the drugs in her hands.” More tears, cascading down her cheeks. The tension only grew thicker with every droplet that splattered onto the dirty floor and Hank only wanted so badly to help that girl out with a burning course of empathy. “I ran away.” The girl began, “I left her care and I figured that maybe, if she’d been so wrong in the past, she had been wrong about you…”

Now she turned to stare at Connor, refusing to even spare Gavin a glance as she trembled. The warm brown eyes that stared did nothing to calm her down, but she still chose to meet sight with him, and it was almost like he was under a spell that trapped him in such gaze. “But now, I see you don’t know me, don’t care about me and don’t want me. My attempts have been for nothing – I am the one you’re after, I am the one who broke through your servers. I have heard and read things about you, Detective Gavin Reed… I knew that you, along with Lieutenant Hank Anderson and Detective Connor, were the DPD’s finest, I knew you’d be called on for the cyberattacks some lousy 16 year old plotted.” She paused to take a deep breath, laptop dropped to the ground as the screen shattered at her feet, her hands were outstretched, waiting. “But I see this was all in vain. Go on, arrest me.”

Nobody dared to move for the next few seconds, in which the silence was filled with sobs from the girl in front of them. It was the longest few seconds of Gavin’s life, whose mind had begun to spiral the second he saw that retched picture. Of course he knew that woman, for it had been the girl who dumped him those many years ago. And even Hank could recognise her, he’d seen her photo, had been there as Gavin attended a court hearing for the restraining order, but never, did he know that a child had been involved. Gavin didn’t appear to know either, as proven by the state he was in. The girl’s sobs only persisted as Hank fidgeted uncomfortably.

He had training for an abundance of situations, hostages, shootings, car chases, but where was the preparation for ‘a long lost child of an officer who was in hysterics and the officer was a stubborn idiot’? Connor didn’t seem to be of any assistance either, too confused and dishevelled to be able to offer emotional assistance like his protocols were suggesting he did.

Hank sighed, taking the first step towards the girl who had been preoccupied with her hands on her face. Connor shared a brief look with Hank, and with that, he slowly turned towards the stunned man beside him and placed a delicate hand on his shoulder, easily guiding him towards the living quarters of the apartment. There was no reluctance from the detective, who only pried his eyes away and stumbled after the android wordlessly. It wasn’t a first for his peculiar behaviour that day, but Connor had a feeling that Gavin would be easier to talk to than those reluctant times before. Perhaps the walls had finally crumbled, or, were beginning to at least.

They sat slowly on the floor, backs against the peeling paint of the wall, Connor waiting for him to be the first to speak. He wasn’t used to heart to heart conversations, he’d only ever spoked to Hank about such matters before, and that seemed to be what both of them realised. Both had seemingly a lot more in common than once thought, neither were good at emotions, but maybe, just maybe, it could become something that they learnt to get better at. And then Gavin shifted with a sigh and shake of his head. He chuckled lowly, but the situation only appeared to reference the difficulty. “God, the fuck did I do so wrong to end up like this?” Gavin began, throwing his head back in defeat. “Here I am, a fucking mess, with an android, and in the other room, is a girl who’s apparently my daughter? And because of my fucked up choices, she’s now suffering or whatever and it’s all just one stupid cycle full of bullshit.” He paused to take in a deep breath, seemingly calm for a matter that was so stressful and Connor had to give props to him for not lashing out in the expected violent manner. But Gavin was broken, and while he had much knowledge on how to repair damaged goods, humans did not fall under that category for they were not things, but living, breathing people.

“What will you do with her now? She’s currently accused of crimes that can send her to a juvenile detention centre… Morally I don’t think that’s right.” Connor said hesitantly. His own belief had contradicted the law, and he knew that to suggest skewing it would be most definitely illegal, but that girl hadn’t done anything out of malevolent nature, it was clear she was trying to get into contact with someone she thought would help her. Connor stole a glance at the detective’s hunched up shoulders. His files didn’t read anything, but with further research, Connor had most definitely found the information he was in need of, no matter how much Gavin thought was concealed. The man was alone, he didn’t have family to go to anymore, the records had shown that much, but even Gavin’s next words had confirmed that.

“How would I fucking know? This shit is fucked… I don’t know jack shit about parenting, I never paid attention to my own parents. Yeah my life was fucking amazing, but I’m the asshole who took that for granted.” He turned to look Connor directly, “I fucking disowned them because they were trying to look out for me and I never got the fucking chance to fix my crap and I regret that now… But god fucking damn it! The world just needs to use me as a fucking punching bag some more! Look at me, I’m a pathetic detective who has been fine for god knows how long, and now I’m rambling to _you_ of all people.”

“I don’t have specific preferences in religion as it’s rather controversial…” Connor began slowly, “But I have heard a fair few times that ‘what goes around, comes around’ in the form of karma. I know that you see things in a way where you’ve done others wrong, but what if this is… the world’s way, of giving you another chance?” After a period of time without answer, Connor took the initiative to try once more. “Will you be letting her return to her mother then? Or perhaps fostering, it didn’t sound like your ex-partner was a suitable parent.”

The prompt led Gavin to sigh as he shook her head, unsure with what he was going to do. He needed to pull himself out from the pit of hatred but he only slipped more as he tried to clear his mind. “Gavin, I understand that it’s difficult for you right now, I’m more than honoured that you chose to open up to me, but that girl needs a father, and perhaps it’s time you stop pushing people away. I’m not forcing you by any means to take her into your care, a teenage girl isn’t the easiest to parent, but I do suggest you consider things whole heartedly before making the final decision.”

“Sorry Connor, the world is just fatalistic like that.” Gavin acknowledged, head shaking, “I can’t look after myself let alone another fucking human being… it’s up to the law for that, after juvie or whatever, I’m not taking her into custody. Heck, that bitch never told me I had a _kid_ …” This time, the man didn’t hesitate, as he eyed the room in which Hank and the girl were currently situated in. How would he do that? To turn a full 360, to become a person other than the arrogant Reed he’d grown into. He wasn’t a family man, he wasn’t cut out for responsibilities, he wasn’t made to be a father of anyone. But the soft hiccoughs that the girl had made left a different voice in his mind. That girl, he didn’t even know her name, he didn’t know anything about her, he wanted to deny it, but looking at Connor, he realised that the android would already know the answer to most of those questions, he would have said something had she been fibbing. He reluctantly paused, “Alright, I’ll talk to her… but I don’t promise anything… I’m an asshole but I’m not a fucking monster.” The two stayed silent after that, both seemingly satisfied with that answer.

Meanwhile, Hank could only stare at the girl who almost willingly collapsed into his arms the moment he offered a comforting embrace. Gosh, children weren’t his strongest suit, but they weren’t his worst, they often reminded him of Cole and how he used to care for the boy in his short life. But right now, this teenager girl, who only Connor presumably knew the name and exact dates of, was a train wreck of a mess. Hank pet her head softly and hushed her, despite knowing she was probably too old for such things. But it worked, and if it worked then that’s all that mattered, so the girl pulled away and dabbed at her eyes with the dirt of her sleeve.

“I-I didn’t mean to.” She began, caught by sniffles in her tone, “I didn’t mean to do this, I just thought… my dad… but my mom was right and I’m in just so much fucking shit for running away and for breaching government shit and… what was I _thinking_?!” Hank could only listen helplessly as the girl blubbered on. “Now it’s hopeless… At least I’ll be away from _her_ and not on the street… I don’t know why I thought he’d be any better, why I even -“But the sentence she had begun was short lived, as Hank pulled away from the stiff embrace and looked her in the eyes. They were Gavin’s eyes, no matter how much it was emphasised, when the older man looked at them, he could only remember the times where the younger man were vulnerable.

“Hon, look, shit, I wish I knew what to say… Gavin... your father isn’t uhm…” Hank didn’t really know where he was going with his words, but the helpless look in the 16 year old’s eyes urged him to speak. He sighed heavily for the umpteenth time that day, a hand pinching at the bridge of his nose. “How about we start at the beginning… what’s your name hon?” The question was simple enough, and only a brief hesitation later, did Hank have his answer.

“Madeleine… Madeleine Reed.” She whispered, “I don’t know why I was given his surname, I think she still loved him? I don’t know… I don’t see why she ever would have cared about him… he never came, he never called her…” She stilled as she slumped against Hank again, shaking her head feverishly before breathing heavily. Her hands fiddled with the fraying ends of her clothes as she blinked slowly, rubbing an eye to clear her vision.

“Don’t do that, you’ll irritate it.” Hank said softly, prying away her hand from her face, “I don’t know much about your mom, Madeleine, but I know that your father did care about her. The day after she kicked him out, he came to me and… fuck kid, I shouldn’t be speaking for him, but I know it left damage. He changed a lot after all that, became reclusive and fucking whatnot. But I swear on my life, he never knew about you. If he did, I’m sure he would have come. I was there the day he registered a restraining order against her, there was never any mention of a child… Fuck, I’m sorry, it’s hard, I’m not the best comfort but that’s all I can tell ya…”

“It doesn’t matter.” She said solemnly, “Not everyone was made to enjoy certain things, I get that. He doesn’t care, he made that perfectly clear, so I’ll just focus on after I get out of juvie-“

“Woah, hang on.” Hank cut in, frowning as she began to descend. He didn’t want her to, he knew that it would be wiser to keep her level headed, and while his thoughts on what to do next weren’t exactly legal, they were moral and to him, his values were seemingly more important. Fowler would understand. “First of all, we don’t know he hates you… he’s been through a fucking shit ton and not knowing about you probably will take a toll. He’s only human after all.” Hank sighed, “I know you want him to love you and care for you and be the father you dreamed he’d be kid, truly, I get that… but you need to let him have some time, it’s a lot to bare onto one man.”

Madeleine nodded her head softly as she wandered towards a corner of the room. The similarities in mind set were astoundingly similar, and Hank could only wonder if Gavin would get better if he connected with the girl in front of him. After thinking, he peered outside the doorway to eye Connor and Gavin biting his lip in anticipation. Connor eyed the lieutenant and between them, it was as if a telepathic thought was shared. There was no question about how they intended to sort the situation out. The morality of it was just, and they both knew that the two they accompanied would be better off this way than not. So Connor nudged Gavin with his foot as Hank slowly brought Madeleine over, tension wafting through the air as the man and the child made eye contact once more.

It was strange to be staring back into the same eyes as your own. Both Gavin and Madeleine remained silent, as neither were really aware of what else there was to do. The atmosphere was growing uncomfortable quickly, daughter and father sharing an unreadable, expressionless face. “I think that the best idea is to not register Madeleine Reed, a criminal record will be detrimental.” Connor said slowly, “This can easily be labelled as not malevolently intended, and I would think that the time could instead be used for…bonding, if you desired.” Gavin raised his eyebrows. So that was her name, it was pretty. “We will have to have a meeting with Captain Fowler however, with your permission Hank, I can already inform him of the situation and begin to see if we can write up a cover story. He’s a man of reason, I’m almost certain he wouldn’t oppose so long as it’s made abundantly clear that Madeleine isn’t going to become a persistent threat.”

Hank nodded before waving a hand. “I suggest you go outside into the corridor and do that then.” He agreed, sighing thoughtfully, “And let us pray that Jeffrey fucking sees reason. As for you two…”  Both Reeds turned to look at Hank quickly, almost thankful for an excuse to avoid eye contact, “We have a few things to discuss that most definitely need discussing.” Connor stepped outside quickly as he began to search through his contacts, Hank’s voice echoing lightly as he entered the “J” category. But that wasn’t what Hank was worried about now, there was still other things that had to be sorted out before anyone could go anywhere and so he invited the two to get comfortable, seating himself in the small circle they made. “Madeleine,” He began, and swore he saw Gavin look away shamefully as the girl made eye contact, “Does anyone else know about the situations going on at your home?” The girl gave a curt nod as she stared at the ground fingers twiddling.

“Yeah, I’ve spoken to the counsellor at school but he didn’t do jack shit. I was referred to a community services company… since then, I’ve been talking to a social worker who drops in every week and stuff. She knows everything, she’s got records and has been building up a case on the off chance I had to get out ASAP. The company she’s associated with have emergency housing but I’ve only ever been there once until things at home sort of died down. I always told her I never wanted to permanently stay because that place has a lot of whacked up kids… but she did suggest I tried finding other family…” There was a pause as Madeleine considered what she was going to say next, evidently conflicted with her situation. “I don’t expect you to have to get me out of juvie, it’s my own actions that led me here after all… but I am thankful if it works. I’ll probably get back in contact with my social worker and have her arrange for me to find residency elsewhere, she’s a JP, it won’t be hard to get authorisation.”

Hank wanted to say more, to at least address the fact that there was the chance that Gavin may end up wanting to look after her, but as he turned to look at the man besides him and opposite her, he knew that he wouldn’t budge, less his old stubborn ways. At least not today, but it was decided that if he were to change, it wouldn’t be anytime soon. So Hank sighed and attempted to convey some sort of emotion when he locked sights with the detective, dejectedly frowning as he saw the struggle Gavin faced. It was obvious with the way he sat cross legged and the taut frown on his lips, that when they had taken the case that morning, Gavin had not expected to come out a father, and the decision was ultimately a heavy weight that Hank knew the detective wished he never had to call. Madeleine looked at him depressingly, a hand running through her dark auburn hair as she nervously glanced at his form. Gavin chose to say nothing, eyes glued to his shoes as the two in front of him waited.

He suddenly stood up, ignoring the protest from Hank who was beckoning him to sit back down and talk it out. But Gavin was a man of action, not discussion, and the events of that afternoon were already too strenuous. He thought he did himself good, he stayed calm, he walked away without breaking anything, heck, he fucking _opened up_ to _Connor_ but this? This was too much. Taking that kid in? It was too demanding. Making a decision? Now that was just asking more than his paygrade. So he ignored the look of terrible pain that washed over the kid – _his_ kid, the girl that was half of him and half a mistake he made 16 years ago. “Fuck no.” He mumbled, straightening his jacket as he went, shaking his head in dismissal, “Fuck this, I don’t fucking care about this shit anymore.” He bit his lip harshly, drawing blood as his tongue tasted metal. “She can go wherever, you heard her old man, she’s got her fucking JP shit to talk to, I have no fucking idea what they do with her, nor do I care. I’m. Fucking. Out.”

“Gavin Reed fucking seat your ass back here!” Hank yelled, but it wasn’t as harsh as it should have been. Instead, the girl and the lieutenant only watched as Gavin stomped off and abandoned their group, his footsteps echoing after him as he clearly left the building’s premise. Madeleine sighed at that, shaking her head as she shared a rather awkward look with Hank. The old man offered her a sad smile in hopes of condolences, but he wasn’t sure if it meant anything. “Shit kid, I’m sorry… Connor and I, we don’t really get along with him… He doesn’t really get along with anyone honestly, but we’re trying… Fuck, if I could, I’d beat him in the face so he can wake the fuck up.” Hank cursed, giving the girl a pat on the back. “It’ll work out, I promise ya.”

More footsteps were heard as Connor reappeared from the hallway, a mixture of confusion and concern laced in his expression as he jerked a thumb over toward the exit. “Detective Reed has just left the scene, I worry about his health in his current mindset.” Hank shook his head in a way of saying that he simply didn’t know but it was best to leave the man be, and so with a dubious look, the android took the man’s place.

“I’ve just finished speaking with Fowler.” He began, and at this, both Madeleine and Hank began to listen attentively, “He believes that a cover up story will work if we state another clause, which I have begun to simulate plausible explanations. I think the best route, is to pinpoint another source. In other words, Madeleine will be reported as an unidentifiable house squatter, explaining the noise, but she won’t be the one we are after. I can run some ‘tests’ and print out a false statement claiming that a VPN was responsible and therefore it’s untraceable, after finding the ‘service’ was a ‘custom provider’. Furthermore, I’ll be able to run a diagnostic on the precinct network and claim it as ‘malware’, case closed.” After the explanation of the details, Hank smiled something genuine as he nudged the girl’s arm.

“Boom. See? Already on the path to a great recovery. I promise ya, nothing bad will happen.” He said, relief flooding him as the girl reflected a look of somewhat hope. It was rather hard to decipher her current moods, but in the short time present, a smile was something different and something good, so they took it as a good sign moving onward. Madeleine sat quietly as Connor fidgeted with his hands, suddenly dawning on Hank that there was clearly more to what was said that needed to be addressed. “Connor, son, spit it out.” The look the android gave him was uneasy, and even before an explanation was granted, Hank knew that it wasn’t going to be the best of news.

“Since Madeleine is Gavin’s daughter… and we have been present for this case, it’s a conflict of interest if we give statements as both officers and witnesses, we can only apply for one, that being said, she must be moved to youth housing until Gavin is able to give an appropriate answer to the court.” Connor turned to face the girl, a sort of smile on his face, “I’ve also been in contact with your social worker who your school records state you’ve been seeing. She’ll be meeting us downstairs in about 10 minutes and shall remain in contact with us after departure. Also, the court wanted a DNA analysis as proof you are the biological daughter of Detective Gavin Reed, seeing as it was relatively easy, I’ve already put forth data as evidence I collected and matched on my way out. It’s merely up to Gavin to make that final decision.” And that was that.

 

~~~

 

The descent down the building was the tensest walk in the history of tense walks. No one said anything, no one did anything, no one even brought up small banter as a way of lightening the mood. It was eerily quiet and by the time they exited the doors, it was clearly late afternoon with the sky already setting into a deep orangey purple mist. A black car was awaiting them, only opening as they walked closer. Connor scanned her as Lilly Papaya, the social worker looking after Madeleine’s case, a rather young woman in her 30s that appeared to be in rather casual attire. Her hair was in a dishevelled bun atop her head, eyes tiredly smiling as she greeted the three at the iron gate. “Thank you officers.” Her voice was soft spoken as she hugged Madeleine. “Is the father, Gavin Reed present?” As if on cue, the LED on Connor’s temple flickered yellow, a file transferring to him wirelessly in the form of a text message.

“No.” Connor said slowly, re-reading the message from his superior. “I just received word from our Captain – he’s on his own way back to Detroit as we speak.” Lilly gave him a questioning glance as the android readjusted himself. Hank also questioned him, surprised to hear that Gavin had already made contact with Fowler. “He was a little startled by the events. He was not aware of having a daughter and I have reason to believe that he may need some time to adjust to the news.” Lilly gave an understanding nod as she turned her back towards them to open the car door behind her. She ushered the girl inside who reluctantly followed, after giving both Hank and Connor a look of appreciation and disappearing behind the tint of the car window.

“Right.” Lilly said hopefully, “Maybe he’ll turn around in the end… But otherwise, I’m sorry this whole mess happened, if I knew then maybe I would have arranged for them to meet in a less stressful manner, but as is… well, it didn’t go that way. But thank you again for, you know, deescalating it and finding a cover up story. It means a lot to her I’m sure.”

Hank nodded sombrely as the woman backspaced towards the driver’s side. “We’re just doing our job in a manner of morality ma’am, hopefully things sort themselves out soon.” Lilly gave a nod in agreement as she finally entered the car, a small wave from her hand before the door shut with a thud and the engine ignited. If Madeleine had been waving back towards the man and the android, neither could tell, but as they waved goodbye to the disappearing vehicle, they hoped she saw their hope.

 

~~~

 

“This is honestly just a big fat mess.” Hank sighed, exiting the helicopter as they touched ground back in Detroit and Connor couldn’t have agreed more. Gavin had taken other means of travel on his own way, and so after stopping by the 99th precinct to bid Diaz, Boyle and Captain Peralta goodbye, they had made their own way back home. By the time they were waiting for a taxi to arrive and pick them up, the time was 11 pm, far too late for anyone to be outside. The sky was dark and all that could be seen was the ominous moon that loomed above the city, bright, white and full. Hank caught Connor’s gaze as he inspected the sky above, mesmerised by the pitch black nothingness the blanket of black held. “Whatcha staring at Con?”

In response to his nickname, the android’s head tilted down and directed his attention to the lieutenant beside him. A soft smile set on his lips as his eyes shone brightly, despite the darkness of their location. “I was trying to stargaze.” He said truthfully, an innocence behind his intensions causing Hank to feel a warmth radiating in his chest. Connor turned to look back up at the sky, staring a little longer before frowning in disappointment, as if expecting more than what was given. “I read about stargazing… in those old books you have laying around the house. “He explained, the frown persistently stuck on his features, “In one book, it was _Tess of the D’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman_ where it mentioned a blighted star, after gazing upon the sky at night… I did more research on the term ‘stargazing’ and much of the digital media you view have that phrase.” There was a sort of bewilderment about Connor’s discovery of the hobby, and it fascinated Hank greatly as to how Connor was so intrigued by staring at little white dots in the sky. Hank turned to look too, seeing nothing but the blackness of the abyss.

“You’re wondering where they are, aren’t you?” Hank realised, and it was Connor’s singular nod that he got in response. “Unfortunately you gotta travel into isolated area for that kind of thing. Detroit has too much light pollution bullshit, but if you’re ever really interested, we’ll see about taking you to the observatory, the fancy telescopes there are a match made for the shit the city ruins.” The appreciative smile Connor wore was worth all the promise Hank made as the two continued to stare at the dark sky. They didn’t expect anything to appear, occasionally eyeing the plane that flew above their head in distraction. It was rather peaceful at this time, too warm for even the crickets to be chirping at this hour, and every street lamp in the vicinity gave a perfect view of oncoming cars.

Not even a few minutes later had the taxi they called for arrived. Doors opening for the two as they climbed in and Connor gave the autonomous vehicle the address to their home. They sat in each other’s silence the whole way back, Hank staring out the window on his right as Connor entered a short period of stasis to back up into the USB he’d given Hank earlier. Today had been something, something Hank in all his years had never thought he’d experience. It was only ever in the movies or story books that a person discovered a long lost child, but all those endings had either been rushed or clichéd. Obviously Gavin’s outburst wasn’t ideal, in fact Hank had silently hoped that perhaps the situation would enlighten the detective. It was a lot of hoping though, Connor would agree there, but the way the man could only stare and blame himself for _her situation_ just seemed so uncharacteristic on its own.

Perhaps if he saw past the blame he’d change his mind. After all, he had outwardly admitted that his jealousy of Connor was hindering his true motives earlier that day, what if this first emotion was just another block in the road that needed removal? The man sighed quietly as he eyed the empty streets. He knew they had their differences and weren’t exactly on the best of terms, but wherever Gavin was currently, Hank hoped that he was doing better.

The taxi alerted the two passengers of the arrival of their destination through the cool automated voice that the taxi had, warm air seeping in as they were let out and Hank placed a hand on the scanner as a form of payment. The car drove away, presumably towards the car depo that it originally came from, just as Hank and Connor walked side by side towards the entrance of the house.

The key was slotted into the lock at which the tiny scrape of metal against metal alerted the giant dog that was inside, chipper barking calling out and pawing at the wood that separated him from his loving owners. Hank grinned light-heartedly, “Ready for Sumo, Con? We’ve been out all day, I’m sure he’s been waiting to cover you in drool.” The lieutenant wagged a finger in the android’s view accusingly, “I know you’re gonna protest but showers are a must after you succumb to your fate with him.” Connor rolled his eyes playfully, and with that, the door swung open and Hank stepped to the side as a bundle of fur came bolting after Connor. The android laughed, it was one of those sounds that Hank loved dearly but would never admit a loud. Connor had never known he was capable of the expression until he first did so, and ever since then, while a little self-conscious at first, it had become his favourite human-like quality – and he had _many_ amazing human-like qualities.

Hank shook his head knowingly as he ushered the dog and android inside the house, smiling fondly as he placed himself on the couch. It was rather late for any delivery places to be open and fairly so, Hank didn’t feel hungry in the slightest, so he opted to refill Sumo’s dog bowl that sat in the corner of the kitchen and tell his android son of his plans. “I’m gonna hit the showers and go to bed.” He called, and with that, Connor was left to the overly energetic St Bernard. The dog licked his face, and Connor smiled contently.

For a moment, the android had decided to sit on the floor with his back against the seat of the couch, watching as Sumo tailed after him. The dog sat in his lap, head tilting in a way that Connor somehow deciphered as questioning. His hand ran through the fur, it was supposedly soft and fluffy and awfully ticklish for some, but the android would never be able to feel that kind of texture as his hands couldn’t process touch in the same way a human could. Sumo licked his fingers playfully, despite not being able to feel it, so Connor didn’t bother to wipe the slobber away.

An almost sad sigh slipped from his mouth. Was Sumo aware that he wasn’t human? Did dogs even know what androids were? They were usually smart companions, ones that could read human emotions based on the hormones they released, but Connor didn’t have hormones – could Sumo tell when he was sad?

Connor’s mind began to wander. Did other pets think the same as dogs? What about cats? There was extensive research that cats were just as, if not more, intelligent as dogs, that while the stereotype was they were bitchy, they could also be pleasant comfort. He had never met a cat before so he wouldn’t be able to conduct such experiment, but perhaps if he asked Gavin to see – Connor stopped dead in his tracks. He almost felt bad for temporarily forgetting Gavin despite knowing that logically, it wasn’t any use to feel bad. He almost felt like he didn’t deserve happiness while the man suffered in silence. Sumo seemed to notice the lack of response and chose to lick Connor’s face.

“You know Sumo, many humans suggest that talking to dogs help relieve stress.” Connor said, turning his head to look at the animal. “While I don’t know how accurate that statement is, I do find that I enjoy your presence.” The dog barked softly at that, as if to understand everything the android said. Maybe perhaps Sumo could understand androids just as well as he could understand humans after all.  Another lick met his face, and this time, Connor giggled before choosing to wipe the slobber.

“I know you can’t possibly understand me… but I feel that I must tell you something about a work colleague called Gavin in confidence.” The dog’s ears perked up at the name of the detective and suddenly Connor was doubting his own words. _Could_ Sumo understand him? “I see you recognise the detective’s name.” he said thoughtfully, “I did hear that he once came over here a long time ago, after his girlfriend broke up with him.” there was a paused, “Do _you_ have a girlfriend?” The dog woofed lowly, Connor would take that as a no as he laughed and shook his head. “Of course not… but anyways, it turns out that his girlfriend had a baby and he never knew about it. Gavin is quite confused about the whole ordeal.”

Sumo stayed silent this time as Connor rubbed the dog’s belly. “I know I can’t force him to look after her, but it would be nice to try and give them both a shot at this new found relationship before completely throwing it away.” A soft growl met Connor’s audio processors, and he guessed that what he said was not agreed with by the dog.

“I know, I know, but _surely_ there has to be a way?” Sumo let out a soft growl again before turning his head to face the small digital clock on the table. He stuck his snout in the air as if to point and it was then that Connor understood the underlying message. “The clock? What does- oh.” Connor realised, “I suppose you’re right… it will be a matter of time huh?” There was a silence that followed, the echo of the shower running as Hank used the bathroom, but that was all background noise processed and ignored. Connor turned to smile at the dog before hugging him and engulfing the ball of fluff tightly. It wasn’t a question anymore, clearly Sumo knew what was going on, and Connor was amazed to find that Sumo was just as good at giving advice.

Their moment was interrupted by Hank however, who emerged from the bathroom in a set of worn out boxers and a DPD hoodie. “What the fuck are you doing Connor? Sumo, stop licking Connor’s fucking face, he ain’t food you dumb mutt.” Surely enough, Connor found that the dog had been slobbering all over him, the pop up in his peripheral vision stacking up in alerts of dog saliva dripping off his face. Connor smirked amused as he gently nudged Sumo away. “Why the fuck were you hugging him like that?” Hank paused, “Everything ok? Need to talk about something?”

Connor shook his head warmly as he wiped the drool away with the hem of his sleeve. It was a good thing he now owned a variety of clothing from Hank’s nagging and shopping trips. “Oh no not really, it’s just that I have found Sumo is surprisingly helpful and good at giving advice.” The comment was met with an amused snort from Hank who ruffled Connor’s hair affectionately.

“Son, I’ve personally seen that dog shit outside and eat the damn turd more than enough times to know that he is not the brightest spark.” The look of loss on Connor’s face created doubt in Hank’s mind, and so he decided to avoid talking about the idiotic things he’d seen his dog do, and discuss the matters that were important. “Connor.” Hank said lowly, “Is this about Gavin and Madeleine?” The android wordlessly nodded in response as Hank clicked is tongue in understanding. “Aw, Son…” He left out a hefty sigh, an arm around Connor as he guided him towards the hallway, “I know you’re worried, but we’ve done all we can… If it makes ya feel better, we can talk to the asshole tomorrow at work before we go out in the field but I don’t promise it’ll end in sunshine and rainbows. Now, in the meantime, don’t let it worry you so much or I swear you’ll get the android equivalent of worry lines all over your face.” Hank joked, stopping outside the vacant bathroom. “Go and shower, wash Sumo’s slobber off your face and detox or something. Need me to hold onto anything so it doesn’t get ruined?”

Connor smiled meekly as he nodded, a hand reaching behind him to pull out a cartridge that remained lodged behind his ear. Hank recognised it as his audio processor, hesitantly taking it from Connor’s grasp. “It’s waterproof, however the heat of water may not be good for it.” Connor smiled, a finger tapping lightly at the LED on his temple as he entered the room. The synthetic skin began to peel away and reveal his endoskeleton as he was grateful to find that Hank had prepared a new set of clothes for him. And with that, he closed the door behind him, leaving Hank to patiently wait for his return.

The little chip laid in his hand flatly as Hank flipped it over curiously. It was bizarre, to think that the small chip controlled all the sounds that Connor could hear, and even crazier to think that he was holding a physical part of the android. His mind wandered to the coin he had been given earlier. It wasn’t the first time he had held a vital part of Connor in his hands, the first time was probably the most remarkable moment Hank had ever recounted.

The day had started fairly normal, only for it to end in a nightmare after a perp had gotten a hold of the very thirium pump within the android’s chest. Hank had cursed Kamski and Cyberlife and all involved in Connor’s design for giving him a heart so easy to rip out. His own hands had been covered in blue, so much blue that the thought made him feel sick. His son, his android son, stuttering and fidgeting and blinking so rapidly that a church would belief the antichrist had risen. He had held that pump in his own bare hand, the very heart that was currently keeping Connor alive, something so remarkable Hank was stunned into a moment of shock before inserting it back into the cavity of his chest.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by light footsteps, only to look up and see a rather curious Connor sit beside him. “Nice shower?” Connor frowned as he stared at the man’s lips, trying to read what was said. Ah yes, the processor. Connor shifted to face the empty port towards the lieutenant, who quickly inserted the cartridge with a snap of plastic. The android cringed slightly as sound was welcomed back, fingers touching behind his ear to double check it had been fitted correctly.

“Upside down!” He laughed, and extracted the piece quickly, rotating the device before shoving it back in place. He heard the feedback glitch out for a second, and then suddenly the world sounded perfectly in sync with Hank’s breathing calibrating the timing. “Ok… that’s better.” Hank laughed and shook his head before sighing and eyeing the time. It was rather late, 1:24 am was certainly past the designated bedtime Connor had set up. So the android pointed it out before attempting to get up, only to be dragged back down by Hank.

“Hang on.” The man said, hesitating to continue, “Connor, you’re a good kid, you gotta know that.” Connor stared as Hank continued, trying to piece together where he was going with the conversation. Hank pulled him into a side hug. “Good night son, just wanted to tell ya that.” But Connor had already known that, and hearing it once more only increased the giddy feeling in his body. ”Now, go to bed, I know you don’t need sleep but you need to go into stasis and recharge every once in a while.” He stood up, pulling the android along and shuffling towards his room absentmindedly. They paused outside his bedroom door.

“Hey Hank?” Connor hesitated, unsure if it would be appropriate to say more. After studying Hank’s anticipating face, he decided it was just better to go along with what he had planned, and cleared his throat nervously despite the action being considered redundant. “You’re a great dad…” Connor averted his gaze momentarily, “And…and I wanted to just say… to tell you… I want you to know that… I love you.” He managed, beaming up hopefully. The older man didn’t think his heart could feel more full.

“Ah Connor,” Hank pulled the android in for a hug, stifling tears that threatened to fall. It was far too late for the emotional sappiness but for once, he could not care less. “I love you too son, I love you too.”

~~~

 

Gavin was a tired mess that just couldn’t, for the life of him, sleep. He blamed it on insomnia, when he knew in reality it was probably the caffeine, but he needed something to blame at this hyperactive time of the night, and something out of control just seemed to be better. His cat meowed softly and for once, Gavin just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry without Pancake’s presence. Unfortunately the cat didn’t seem to care, either that or Pancake was too busy enjoying pitying the man as he sulked. Knowing Gavin’s luck, it was the latter of the two but he was just too busy caught up in the moment to care. He groaned into the pillow on his bed, excessively dragging out the note as he tried to purify his body from stress. It was all in vain.

How had he gotten here? He wanted more answers, he wanted a clear mind, he wanted so badly to go back into the past before life got complicated. The second he entered his home there was a phone call. A woman, Lilly or whatever she called herself, she was Madeleine’s social worker, asking to meet up with him and discuss the girl. Gavin scoffed at that, staring around his apartment. His life was too much of a mess to even consider his own needs, let alone the girl’s. What a failure he felt like.

“I honestly don’t care if you eat me alive Pancake, I honestly fucking deserve it.” He mumbled into his pillow, not even flinching when his cat slapped a paw over the back of his head. “I deserved that.” He moped, bolting upright after feeling sharp claws dig into his skin. He shot daggers at Pancake, who only seemed to try and one up him in an egotistical battle. Gavin rolled his eyes and shifted to his side, staring at the outline of his hands in the dark of his room. “That fucking hurt I hope you know, you dumb prick.” Pancake refused to answer, instead crawling over to Gavin’s face and choosing to swat at his hair before nipping at his nose. “Ok the FUCK?! Pancake what the fuck is wrong with you?!” the cat slinked off to the foot of the bed somewhat proudly as Gavin touched where the cat had bit him, cursing as the light scratch stung.

“I hope you’re happy.” He spat, and then it was back to feeling sorry for himself in the middle of the night. Pancake meanwhile, continued to stare at the human with disinterest. Of course, a cat just seemed to think themselves the bigger in every situation, but staring at Gavin’s troubled form had Pancake on edge despite the physical lack of care. Like owner like pet so the saying went.

Gavin stared back up at the ceiling of his bedroom in thought. He had been doing something so different that day, something opposite of which became his usual, snobby demeanour. It was a good different too, he could almost feel a change within him resurface as he spoke to Connor and Hank and became open with them. Admitting it out loud felt good as well. And it was then that Gavin realised that the issue may have been that he let the past get to him and everything. He blinked stupidly as he processed this foreign thought, almost astounded to find that it made sense.

But he was certain that Madeleine couldn’t go live with him, certain that he’d ruin that too and oh god, he just wanted to stop thinking about everything and sleep. His phone read 3:34 am, and it was at this time that Gavin decided to send a text to the captain and request a day off. He needed to think, to clear his head. He needed a drink or a smoke or maybe just a walk in the park – people suggested nature walks right? Whatever he would do the next day, he knew it was important that he made a final decision, something of which he thought he’d have already done, but his mind went back to the points Connor had made and suddenly he wasn’t so sure.

He sat up, and Pancake had felt his movements because the cat was suddenly dozing off in his lap. Gavin smiled lightly as he ran a hand through the short fur. He didn’t want to think about Madeleine right now, he could finally feel the fatigue lowering into his system, and with that, his tired mind had settled to a sort of peaceful state. He laid back down, his cat drawing up close to his chest as he shut his heavy eyes. He didn’t want Madeleine, he told himself, so he made a promise of calling Lilly first thing he woke up.

But as the sun hit his face, Gavin felt too sluggish to be able to do anything, seemingly perfectly content with laying in the comfort of his bed. When he turned to pick up his phone, he was met with the time displayed on the top. 2 pm was truly late, and even the missing presence of Pancake had told him it was about time to move on. His thumb dragged the screen down, revealing a series of texts from Captain Fowler and Connor alike, confused as to how the latter had even managed to obtain his number. He read his boss’ message and dismissed it momentarily afterwards. It hadn’t been anything interesting, just an approval for sick leave, but it was then that he was grateful that Connor had already explained the situation and the captain had been more understanding than one would initially expect.

Speaking of the devil – Gavin actually bothered to count the individual messages that read out as if the android had merely thought them, probably because that’s exactly what he had done once Gavin thought about it. After glancing over them all, he drew up the final number of 24, already 24 texts too many. But he unlocked his phone and read them anyway, a sensation of surprise surpassing him as the messages revealed concerns for his whereabouts, finally ending with a request for him to reply as soon as he could. Gavin snorted as he pocketed his phone, stepping out of bed and making his way to his bathroom to prepare for the half day he had left. He let out a slight yawn, a hand attempting to stifle it as he watched Pancake enter the room. “Hey buddy, sorry about last night.’ He mumbled softly, “I really gotta take a leak though… so can you let daddy have some peace of mind?”

He locked gaze with his cat as they both seemingly realised what he said. The usual tittle that all parents of pets gave themselves now seemed to be a tad too awkward for Gavin to acknowledge, especially with the news that he was now a legitimate father with a human daughter. He frowned as Pancake eventually left his sight, leaving him to recall the events of that night. He sighed and shook his head as he completed his usual morning routine. He could barely function properly, a kid was most definitely _not_ what he needed.

Deciding it would be best to go outside for once, Gavin refilled Pancake’s food bowl before grabbing his usual jacket that was strewn across his couch. Grabbing his keys and his phone, he stepped out and shut his door behind him, descending the three small front door steps before setting on foot towards a destination that wasn’t known to him. _Go with the flow_ was what his mind said, and being too busy all wrapped up in other preoccupying thoughts, he submitted to what his brain wanted, turning right on the footpath and heading down the street. Nature walks weren’t something he particularly fancied, but in this moment, he knew he needed some fresh air.

It wasn’t long before Gavin found himself wandering into a children’s playground of all things, and he internally groaned as his sight was filled with the numerous happy families and little toddlers running around. Glancing towards the slide, he could see a conga line of children that appeared no older than five, one directly behind the other as they slide down in unison, collapsing into a heap at the bottom as the mothers cooed and snapped pictures. Did Madeleine have any pictures like that? He shook the intrusive thought from his head as he turned on his heal, adamant about leaving such an ironic space for him to end up in, fiddling with the weird cork like lock that he was almost sure wasn’t closed when he entered. A woman beside him laughed lightly, stepping up beside him to offer a hand.

“They’re like, the weirdest things in the world.” She bemused, stepping aside to let Gavin through, seemingly looking around him as if in search for something. “Oh.” She finally realised, returning her gaze to his, “You don’t have any kids?” Gavin froze awkwardly as he gave an awkward laugh. It would most certainly be embarrassing if he admitted he was so lost in thought he ended up there, and so without thought, he spilled rather private thoughts he didn’t know he thought, to a completely random stranger,

“Nah, I do, but she’s all grownup and stuff… not really into all… this.” He gestured with a hand to a pair of kids eating sand, cringing at the thought of how that must feel. The woman laughed in agreement as she followed Gavin’s gaze, seemingly concerned for the children as well.

“Really? How old is she?” She asked, and Gavin almost wanted to snap back and ask why there were so many damn questions. But he didn’t, and instead he found himself feeding this mother answers as he listened to himself talk like he had no control of what he was saying. “I have a 10 year old at home, he’s a picky boy, and my three year old daughter is over there on the swing set with my husband.” She pointed out a little girl that sat giddily in a strapped seat, a man pushing her softly as she went back and forth, screaming in delight far too loudly.

“Oh, Madeleine is 16.” Gavin said quickly, shrugging his shoulders, “My partner and I separated when she was born.” He didn’t know why he felt inclined to add that small bit of detail. He was most certainly not a proper father to be taking credit for the teenager, and yet here he was, instead of just pushing the random woman away, talking to her about things not even half his family had ever known. It felt quite domestic, and Gavin wasn’t entirely sure how to process that.

“Oh I’m sorry to hear.” The woman nodded quickly, “16 you say? You look awfully young to have a 16 year old.” The laughter in her tone had suggested just how uneasy the idea of a teen pregnancy had sounded, and Gavin had to spend a solid split second figuring out how old he was when madeleine had been born. 21 years. He was only legally an adult at the time, and little did he know, a father. He wanted to blame his ex for keeping something so important away from his life, but then he had to stop and think about what he was getting upset about. No, that was enough, he most certainly didn’t want Madeleine in his life and he was going to prove it by calling that social worker that instant.

“What? I’m only 37.” Gavin had replied, but his mind was already on something else. With that, he wordlessly left as the mother watched him concerned, a watchful glance on his figure as she shut the gate and turned to walk back to her own family. They didn’t even ask for each other’s names. It took a second to recompose himself as he began to wander aimlessly for an isolated bench. For some reason, no one appeared to like sitting while in a park and so locating a bench in general had proven to be an issue on its own. Eventually Gavin spotted one covered in shade from an overstanding tree, choosing to direct his target towards there and take a seat before someone else could steal it from him.

He dug a hand in his pocket and fished out his phone, slowly unlocking it and swiping to the recent calls section. His eyes lingered over the woman’s name, thumb hesitant to press and dial. How was he going to reject his own kid? He knew he didn’t want her, he had been so adamant about it since the second he saw her, but the human side of him that felt guilt and remorse just wouldn’t let him breath. He squeezed his eyes shut as he quickly hit Lilly’s name, hand raising quickly to press the device into his ear just a tad too harshly for his comfort. It was like a timer counting down with each ring, the longer he waited the more nervous he seemingly became, and Gavin just wanted these sickening butterflies to just _burn_ in the acid of his stomach already!

It was the sixth ring that stopped midway and cut into another person’s voice as they spoke, unfortunately not the answering machine like Gavin had silently hoped it would be. The voice was the same as that woman from the night before, and Gavin could hear the uncertainty in her voice as she answered. “Gavin Reed.” She said, “I’m glad you’ve called, but if this is about making a decision, you don’t need to give one right away.” She spoke hurriedly and Gavin could detect the pained tone she withdrew. If anything, He knew that she knew his answer, and the only reasons he prolonged it was because she didn’t want to have to break the news to the girl. At least it wasn’t going to be Gavin’s problem. Gavin gave a response that cut the woman on the other side off, and with a moment of hesitation, she accepted him. “I suppose we both know your answer sir…” She said dejectedly, “I know I shouldn’t be asking more of you given the circumstance, but Maddie is a good girl… anyways, I’ll need clear verbal clarification that you revoke all parenting rights to her and that you’ll allow for her to be transitioned into a foster home, there will be some paperwork we need to—“

“I don’t fucking care about that bullshit.” Gavin winced at the harshness of his voice, listening to him speak as if on autopilot. He sighed frustratingly as a hand raced to his head, pulling at the locks that rested there. “You do realise how hard this kinda fucking shit is right?” There was a pause from the woman as Gavin spoke, “Just yesterday I discovered that my ex-girlfriend had a fucking kid and I never knew, and now today I make the decision of what the hell I’m meant to do with her…” He cut himself off as he realised what he had been saying, biting the already healing lip in contemplation.

“I understand sir.” Lilly spoke finally, “I’m sorry that this has inconvenienced you.” There was a quietness that followed from the two adults as Gavin eyed a particular stick on the ground that he had suddenly taken interest in. Why did decisions have to be so hard to make? Why couldn’t he just be the cold, mean, arrogant asshole he built himself up to be? Why couldn’t he outright say he didn’t want the girl? What was so hard about easily closing a chapter of your life? It was right there, just sitting in front of him, waiting for him to finally do it, and yet the chance was slipping away between his fingers as the time slipped by. “Sir, I’ll have to go, unless there’s anything else you would like to say, Madeleine will officially be taken out of your hands and-“

“Fuck, shit wait.” There no longer was any rational sense behind what he was doing, he could only feel the heart in his chest pound in his rib cage, begging to be freed. “No wait, I don’t give consent.” His lips moved as his eyes widened in disbelief, as if betrayed by his own self. He couldn’t believe a single thing he was doing in that spur of the moment and yet here he was, talking and taking back everything. “Don’t send her anywhere… Don’t send Maddie to a fucking foster parent or shit…not yet, don’t do that.” Lilly remained silent as the detective spoke, “I…I can’t promise you or her jack shit.” Gavin began, “But… oh fuck if I know, gimme time… with her I mean…  I don’t know, like a fucking trial week or something? Fuck, I don’t know why the hell I’m doing this shit, just… I’ll try a week, I’ll go from there.” There was a silence for a short while as Lilly listened to what he said.

“A week it is then.” She nodded, aware that he couldn’t see what she did, “We can bring her to you tomorrow at 9 am at your home residence. She doesn’t attend school currently and has online classes so she won’t miss much.” Lilly paused, hesitance clearly in her voice, “Are you sure you want to go through with this Mr Reed?” Gavin released a shaky breath that he wasn’t aware he had held, licking his lips nervously. Oh fuck what was he doing? How was this happening? How did he get here in this predicament? Only yesterday there was a case to do with hacking that he begrudgingly investigated with Hank and Connor and by the end, he came out father. What was the world doing to him? Could it have been possible that Connor’s ideology was right in regards to Karma?

Gavin heard Lilly call his name once more to check that he was still present. He closed his eyes and sighed tiredly before opening them once more. It didn’t matter, there had to be a reason he just couldn’t say no, and if it turned out to be nothing, the girl would be gone by weeks end. He felt his hands begin to tremble and with that, he gave the social worker his final answer. “Yes.” He began, a million thoughts racing at one time, “I’m sure.”

He hoped she wasn’t allergic to cats.

 

~~~

 

It was almost 5 pm when Connor caught sight of Gavin Reed entering the precinct, and he made sure that almost everyone had known with the loud gasp and obvious whispers he directed to Hank. The lieutenant was in mixed opinion about whether or not it was a good thing, but somewhat thankful that the Android’s mind could finally be put at ease. It came to everyone but Connor and Hank’s surprise when the detective offered a meek smile and wave, before rerouting and entering Fowler’s office quickly. Perhaps it was because the two had already seen the detective’s vulnerable side and they were on sort of goodish terms, or maybe it was just because there was so much that had gone down in the past few days that the weird was now the normal. Whatever it was, Connor’s interest on the conversation within the office had begun to appeal to Hank. Both decided to agree for once that desk work was a trek.

So Hank leaned over across their shared desks to whisper. “What are they saying?” He asked, a smirk drawing on his lips as Connor began to analyse the situation. He eyed the android who blinked occasionally every few seconds as his lips moved wordlessly, studying everything that was going on in the room a little way away. A glass office, for all the world to see, it was something that was often considered useless by Hank and just a fancy physical way of flexing the architecture, but in this moment as they eavesdropped and spied, Hank was grateful that somewhere out there in the world, there existed a dumb bozo who genuinely considered a glass office a good idea. Hank snapped his fingers in front of the android in an attempt to snap him out of the analytical trance he was in, but being non-human, it did nothing, and so Hank awkwardly leaned back into his chair to wait for Connor to regain consciousness himself.

Once Connor had come to, a series of flashy blinks later, he beckoned Hank over with a wave of his hand and a rather peaceful smile gracing his features. “Detective Reed has spoken with Lilly.” He said slowly, “There is to be a trial week starting tomorrow, Madeleine will be staying with him and testing it out.” There was excitement hidden in his voice but Hank chose not to question it, instead letting the android continue with his news. “But Hank,” And Connor suddenly went serious, face monotone and rather expressionless, “Gavin can still change his mind at any time… he’s giving her a chance for whatever reason but something bad could always happen and I’d hate for—“ Hank raised a hand to hush the android and shook his head. Now this is where he drew the line, and with a comforting glance, he resolved all of Connor’s fear.

“Connor, I know you care.” Hank began carefully, “And it’s nice of you to do that, but son, this isn’t our place to meddle. We can support and offer our help as we have offered our testimonies to the court, but whatever happens, we can’t force it to go another way no matter how unfair it seems.” Hank sighed as he took in Connor’s dejected face, “Try to think positive, he asked to trial this out right? Maybe not all is lost, perhaps he truly will change after all of this and some miracle work happens, I dunno.” It wasn’t entirely promising what was said, but it hadn’t drained hope from the android, so with that, Connor accepted what the man had said as he eyed the detective still talking with the Captain. Madeleine would be joining Gavin at work the next day, and by the looks of things, Fowler had just agreed for the following week.

Gavin had the feeling of jelly consuming him whole as he stood before the captain. Never in his years of being a part of the Detroit Police Department had Gavin struggled more with asking a favour from Jeffery Fowler, and never in his year of working had he seen a more compassionate side to the man. He was humble in a sense, and that had proven the modesty Gavin had. It wasn’t a question that something was different about the man, and the captain could clearly see it in the way he carried himself out of the office, eyeing Gavin as he walked on.

His mind was a buzz, full of the worry and the unknowing as he casually slipped his hands in the warmth of his pockets. He didn’t have work today, and he knew that disturbing others was not recommended, but since the IT department had left, the man could finally appreciate the rather empty building. Gavin nodded at Officer Tina Chen, who cheerfully nodded back, a cup of coffee raised in acknowledgement. They barely spoke two words to each other during their shared patrols, just as most officers chose was best when working with him. But seeing the man offer something other than a threat or a scowl… it was different, and a surprise so pleasant that there was no comment in fear that it would just come crashing down.

Gavin spotted the lieutenant and android in the corner of his vision, a cautious bite of his lip following as he rerouted his way from the exit towards them. His footsteps were slow, almost ready to break into a run if things went south as he expected. He did storm off yesterday and he wasn’t a responsible person in the slightest, but he had hoped that Connor’s texts had meant that they were still on the same page somewhat. Gavin knew he had to acknowledge Madeleine before he left, he owed the two that much, and despite whatever their reactions were, he knew that for the week to go well, he’d need to pull his head out of his ass and into gear.

“Lookie here, the asinine detective just strolled into town… sleep alright? You look fucking dead, R.I.P.” Gavin didn’t flinch when Hank called out to him as he made his presence known, instead nodding tiredly as he nudged Connor with his elbow. Hank raised his eyebrows up in question, no venom in his bite as he waited for the detective to reply. But Hank had been right in calling the man dead-looking. The dark, heavy bags under his eyes gave that away almost too easily, along with the rather red edges of his sclera. His hair was ruly, possibly greasy or maybe it was hair wax? His chapped lips had a slightly dark spot, from which Hank could make out faint teeth marks as dried blood covered the wound. Gavin certainly wasn’t in the best of shapes.

“Hey Tincan.” Gavin smiled lazily, the nickname no longer pertaining to insult, his voice was soft spoken, and slightly hoarse. To be able to witness Gavin in such a calm state was one thing, but for him to be rather friendly towards an android and everyone else for that matter, most would assume he’d been tortured into it. Yet here he was, standing rather willingly in front of the duo, sheepishly shrugging his shoulders uncertainly. Since when did trialling one week allude to being nice to everyone? Gavin was almost ready to call quits and turn around, but didn’t when he realised that although his reputation as tough was slowly decreasing, it was not being used against him. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as he thought. He turned to inspect the empty terminals on both Connor and Hank’s computers before chuckling. “So productive you two.” He joked.

Hank smiled warmly, “We’re just being a couple lazy slackers…” His voice died down, as if in thought, “But anyways, what are you doing here?” Gavin pulled out is phone at the question, quickly swiping it open to tap on iMessage. He rotated the screen to face the lieutenant as he smirked, giving Connor a curious glance.

“I dunno, just wanted to make sure Connor hadn’t flipped his shit…” Connor rolled his eyes playfully and it was the first time that Gavin had actually seen the android behave so nonchalantly. Gavin shrugged as he pocketed the device away from prying eyes, sighing as he turned to Hank, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “That, and I needed to talk to Fowler…” His voice went deeper, serious as he held gaze with the older man. “Uhm… I don’t really fucking do this kinda shit and I know my rep is probably fucked now… but… you know, sorry about yesterday and shit… and…yeah.” He appeared to want to say more but refrained from doing so, waiting anxiously for a reply. Hank offered him a smile before nodding.

“All’s good Gavin.” He said, “I ain’t good at this kinda shit either but ah, well, you know, probably shouldn’t be pissing off kids.” He laughed at this, and Gavin broke out in a smile of relief, turning to shyly nod at Connor. There was no word exchange but the gaze seemed to communicate something between the two, and so both detectives shook hands warmly before Gavin averted his gaze. “Hey, you’re gonna do fine.” Hank said tentatively, “Fuck, kids aren’t easy… trust me.” He said, a cheeky nod spared for Connor, “But you’re smart, you’ve managed yourself relatively better than I can say for most people.” Gavin had never been on the receiving end of such compliments from Hank, but he immediately understood how Connor would thrive from simple praise. It felt good, and certainly reflected in his worn out face, as his eyes crinkled at the corners with a smile. “Now,” Hank began, a button pressed as his terminal switched off, Connor hastily following shortly after, “We’re taking you home son. You look like you’d collapse any second.”

Gavin shook his head in protest but found his body too tired to do more than flop around uselessly. “No, don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine.” He hesitated but Connor had already began ushering him outside as Hank waved towards the Captain to alert him of their exit. “Connor, seriously, you don’t have to do this.” Gavin said, as if accepting help from the android was destroying the last remnants of dignity he held. Connor only waited patiently as the detective grumbled, Hank’s car in sight across from them. Said man had reappeared by Connor’s side, looking at Gavin. It was clear that the sleep he had gotten, despite waking up in the middle of the day, had not been enough for his body, and the overwhelming coffee intake had done nothing to aid the situation. Connor sighed as Hank unlocked the car door, the android holding it open for the dishevelled detective.

He didn’t deserve this. He’d done a lot of shit that rendered him undeserving of their kindness. Heck, he genuinely expected Hank and Connor to turn hostile towards him for the stunt he pulled, and yet here he was, sitting in the back seat of their car, being driven home because his sorry ass had decided it would be fun to hate himself just that tiny bit more.

The ride was silent, in respect for his tired mind, and Gavin couldn’t have been more appreciative, body growing heavy with fatigue as he allowed his eyelids to slide shut. It would only be a moment he promised himself, but a moment turned longer, and soon Gavin Reed was asleep in the back of his enemy’s car. No, they weren’t rivals anymore, he knew that himself, he’d already gone too far to go back now. No, if anything, they were acquaintances, a bit of a stretch to claim the three friends, but on the path there surely. It was peaceful, a good peaceful that left the men in content. Who knew that things would turn out this way?

There was an uncertainty with the situation however, like how every pro has its con, to which Gavin still held mixed feelings. He didn’t want to disappoint, he hated failure terribly and took a toll on it as result. But he knew there was a chance the week would end and he wouldn’t be able to go further. This was what he had been prepared for since the beginning. Fate had a really strange role in Gavin’s life, and thinking back on it, he wasn’t quite sure right now if everything was for the worst. Connor’s words had been a reminder of that, how instead of another curse upon his tragic rollercoaster of a life, it could be a way to redeem himself from everything. He had contemplated both, but didn’t end up far, and was almost disheartened when he felt himself slipping into frustration’s grasp.

Hank had occasionally peered through the rear view mirror to keep an eye on the sleeping human, sighing as he shook his head before concentrating on the road ahead. His past friendship with Gavin had ended shortly, and for as long as he could remember, it had become expected to constantly argue. To now suddenly jump back into something that ended so long ago, it was strange, like walking in new shoes for the first time – you were often proud, but uncomfortable, that is until you broke into them. Perhaps he just needed to wait until the same happened for Gavin, and by then, foot and shoe would be able to cooperate comfortably. What a weird analogy.

“Detective Reed has entered the R.E.M cycle, he’s in a rather deep sleep which suggests we shouldn’t wake him up.” Connor informed, twisting his body to face Hank. “I understand that we need to bring him home, however disturbing him wouldn’t be so kind.”

“I know Con, but we’re gonna have to. I sure as hell can’t carry a grown ass man.” Hank argued, but he really did feel bad.

Connor eyed Gavin through the mirror. “You can carry me.” He pointed out, and heard the lieutenant scoff at that. “Very well, I’ll carry him. I am able to simulate perfect balance and thus won’t move him about. His keys are in his pocket, you can unlock the door.” The offer was innocent, and Hank didn’t really want to argue, so he agreed as he rotated the wheel, stopping the car at the side of the street. He wordlessly unlocked the car and waited as Connor fished out the cold metal, tossing them quickly to Hank who had begun to make his way to the front door.

Connor bent at his knees rather robotically, lowering himself as he slowly unbuckled the seatbelt that encased the man. He had barely shifted, body rather limp as Connor scooped his arms under Gavin’s legs and waist, before hoisting him out of the car slowly. Connor’s footsteps were carefully predicted, a foot closing the door behind him with great expertise as he took even steps. Hank eyed the android in amusement as Gavin shifted slightly, surprised to find that he remained asleep throughout the whole ordeal.

“Jesus Christ, that’s the most gayest thing I’ve ever fucking seen.” He snorted, earning an apprehensive stare from Connor. The man rolled his eyes as the two entered the front door. “I’m kidding Connor. Relax, I’m not trying to be mean or call you gay.”

Connor slowly lowered the detective onto his bed after locating the bedroom, drawing the blinds closed and absentmindedly refilling the cat bowl after eyeing Pancake. “Oh no Hank,” Connor began, bending down to pet the feline carefully, “I am very much so gay, I just didn’t want labels to be placed upon Gavin whom we don’t know the sexual orientation of.” The reveal was quite formal, and as Hank roared with laughter, absurd, to be simply stated, he concluded that it had to do with the difference in times, where he grew up in a world that had rejected those different, and now where it was fairly normal to say such things. Connor returned a smile, seeming to understand.

“Fuck Connor, I’m happy for ya, didn’t mean to laugh, I just didn’t expect the conversation to go down that way is all.” He clapped the android on the back as he tossed Gavin’s keys onto the coffee table in clear view, locking the door knob before pulling the two outside and swinging the door shut quietly. “How long have you known?”

“Oh I’ve always known.” Connor responded confidently, “It’s just never come up as a topic of conversation, why do you ask?” He inclined, a head tilt aimed at Hank. They both entered the car and sat down momentarily, neither moving as they spoke.

“I was just curious but I’m glad you’re confident.” Hank chuckled, “In all my years of knowing that idiot back there, he’s always proclaimed to be the ‘straightest man alive’ but it’s bullshit because Ben caught him chatting it up with a couple guys at the bar.” He shook his head, “Gavin is real interesting I’ll tell ya that, always flirting but never anything more… this kid Madeleine is a big step forward. What do you reckon?”

“I do believe that Madeleine will be a step elsewhere, and if I’m honest, anywhere but the grave that Detective Reed has been digging himself in is better.” Connor’s acknowledgment of Gavin’s improvement were taken with great consideration as Hank finally started up the car. Mondays weren’t the best of days, but Tuesday was just about to get a whole lot more interesting.

 

~~~

 

Interesting was just scratching the surface because for starters, Gavin awoke in his _bed_. Almost the entire opposite of where he was sure he had fallen asleep the other afternoon. He tried his best to not work himself up about it though, because now he was wide awake. The second thing was the energy that coursed through his veins for unknown reasons – was this the giddiness of excitement or fear? The third, and probably stranger of the three, was that Pancake was _hyper_ , as if knowing that somehow, something was bound to happen. Gavin couldn’t work out how the cat was so darn smart and settled for leaving it as that, as the feline purred in a rather friendly matter before rubbing against Gavin’s open palm.

“Yeah, morning to you too buddy… what time is it? Do you know?” The cat only meowed in response, which of course Gavin couldn’t understand, so he leaned over to find his phone resting on his bedside table. The white text unveiled an “11:30 am” to Gavin’s horror, already bolting out of bed to find that he had slept through more than just his clothes from the day before. _Madeleine._  Crap. Oh fuck, he knew that he shouldn’t have said anything, he clearly wasn’t cut out for the job. He’d already slept through the initial meet up and ruined it all. “Fuck!” He cursed, and Pancake glanced curiously at him, swiping a paw at the tense man in attempt to gain his attention. “Fuck!”

Without a moment of hesitation, he found himself stumbling out of his room with his phone in hand, already frantically swiping in search for some form of help. He didn’t like the anxiety, he didn’t like the failure, but by god, he was now certain that he’d screwed up and had witnesses as proof. In the midst of his worry, he entered the living room subconsciously, baring no mind to his surroundings as he paced frantically. It wouldn’t do anything, but he felt that to do something was at least more productive than sitting still.

“Um…hi.” He froze, and then he found the source of the voice, calmly sitting on his couch uncertainly. She was dressed in a plain outfit and had her own phone laying in her lap untouched, her eyes reflecting the anxiousness they both shared. Gavin sucked in a breath.

“What? How did you get in?” As if to answer his question, Pancake jumped up onto the coffee table and purred with pride, pushing the set of keys Hank had left the previous day.

“Your cat is very clever…uhm…they brought the keys through the cat door and Lilly and I let ourselves in after you were unresponsive. She found you asleep and said she’d leave you a text message. I’m sorry if it was intrusive or something – I swear I didn’t mean—“

“Oh what? No…no it’s… it’s ok.” Gavin scratched the back of his head awkwardly, eyeing his cat suspiciously. “That’s why you’re so smug huh Pancake?” He scolded, and the cat mewed back. Gavin absentmindedly eyed his phone and sure enough, three texts from Lilly had been left behind. Next time he’d look at his messaged before freaking out.

Madeleine shifted in her spot on the couch as she watched his actions, hands opening and clenching in response. “Um… I know that you don’t really know what to think of me but… I appreciate you giving this whole thing a chance.” She began, “I can just stay here or wherever so I don’t get in your way, I can occupy myself with school work.” The dejected tone was frail and almost made Gavin want to cave in and throw away years of pent up regrets, shifting his weight from one foot to the other as he observed her. It felt wrong for her to dismiss herself in such way, so he ended up frowning and taking a seat beside her tentatively, as to not startle. Madeleine moved so that there was more space for Gavin to sit.

“Uhm… no. I mean… if you have school work then I suggest you do that.” He said, not liking the way his words came out. He didn’t feel very good when her reaction was to sadly nod, whatever secret hopes she had being drained away by his comment. “I gotta go to the precinct so… you’re gonna have to come with me.” He said, and then he stood up quickly, walking back to his room. He eyed the small suitcase filled with presumably her belongings before shutting the door behind him and picking up a fresh set of clothes for the day. Pancake mewed softly.

“I know.” He hissed, hands balled into fists, “I know fucking hell.” But nothing more came of the matter. After emerging from the room silently, grabbing his keys, his phone, his badge, and to Madeleine’s cautiousness, a gun, he threw the door open carelessly and started off, not bothering to wait for the girl as she stumbled after him.

The car ride was just as silent, and while Gavin wasn’t mad at her, he had been mad at himself, beating himself up for the way he had reacted. Madeleine sat in the back seat alone, wondering why she had even bothered to give this a chance. It was a mess. “I got shit to do.” Gavin felt himself wince, “You’ll just have to keep yourself busy.” Madeleine hoped he’d say more, but knew it to be false when nothing more came from the situation, choosing to stare out the window as she clutched at her bag in possession.

It was strange to be in a city far more advanced than Brooklyn, as the girl was used to more modernised environments. The city was far brighter somehow, the lights even midday, shining artificially. Madeleine had never seen so many Cyberlife stores either, and wondered what the purpose of them would be after the revolution. She’d done her research, admittedly internet stalking was just one of those teenager skills that were enhanced with her additional skills in technology.

Of course, she could never achieve her full potential with the lack of equipment back in New York, but she had hopes that she would be able to learn a few things in her week staying. She did know of Connor, she was rather curious to ask the androids questions but there was also a ticking time bomb. She eyed her father and knew there wasn’t a chance she’d be staying longer, she’d have to make the most of it then.

Gavin grunted as he reverse parked into his space like he usually did every day and like every day, he’d chuck a glance towards the spot beside him to see that Anderson had beat him there. It was not a competition, but he did keep count, for whatever reason. Today he’d lost, but he blamed it on the kid he brought with him, in the expected injustice that Gavin ironically had.

The walk through the precinct was one Gavin would never forget, every footstep he made echoing with the steps of the girl behind him, oddly louder, and more obvious, with every single pair of eyes within the workforce cast upon them. Gavin had figured they’d all have been informed as to not bother him, yet despite the quick avert of gaze, the moment seemed to linger on longer than it did. It was incredibly silent and Gavin couldn’t tell if the lack of noise was real or in his mind, so he did the only logical thing he could possibly conjure and kept his head down and focused. In this moment, it didn’t seem to matter as to what Madeleine did, so Gavin cleared his own folders off of the table that connected to his and allowed her to sit down.

He quickly left afterwards without a word, avoiding the disheartened shake of Madeleine’s head as she pulled open her laptop. Gavin felt himself move towards the breakroom, subconsciously making himself a cup of coffee as he sighed in thought. He didn’t even have the heart to glance back at his desk space, a heavy weight lowering into his gut. He felt like screaming right then and there, but held it in in respect for his reputation.

“So, how’d you go? Judging by the two of you… it’s not quite talking terms yet?” Hank came over to where the detective stood, leaning against the counter as Gavin collected the hot beverage. He took a sip before returning the gaze, offering look that suggested he wasn’t amused. “Ok, ok, kid, chill. I ain’t gonna go busting your chops.” He defended, arms raised in mock surrender, “Relax, I know this whole gimmick shit your pulling; no one is judging you… if anything they’re fucking impressed…” Gavin took the chance to inspect the precinct, eyeing the more familiar faces that gave a small wave as they met. Gavin could only nod curtly.

“Yeah, yeah… yeah I know.” He mumbled, another sip of his drink, “I’m already certain I’ve fucked up everything with Madeleine, I don’t think this week is gonna be good for either of us.” A hand tousled his hair in frustration, with a huff of air leaving his lips. “Hank, man, the fuck is going on with me?” Hank could only sigh in response, at a loss of words.

Gavin then decided it was time to search for Madeleine by his desk, eyeing Connor who was conversing with her nonchalantly. “Even Connor is doing a better job than me!” He felt another weight lodge itself in his stomach, almost as if guilt had begun to manifest.

Hank felt bad for the man, he truly did – and in his entire life time of knowing said man, he never thought he’d feel anything but remorse for him again. Just goes to show how much had actually changed within the past couple of days. He wasn’t very good with advice, as he discovered when trying to supply Connor with life lessons, but he knew he had to say something, otherwise the detective was sure to remain in such a tense state for the rest of the trial week. Hank wanted there to have been at least a fair shot for both of them, they deserved that much. So he placed a hand on Gavin’s shoulder and steered him to face himself, light eyes meeting dark.

“Gavin, I am honestly shit with the whole advice shenanigans.” Hank admitted, sighing in the process, “But I swear, you’re all good, ya hear? It ain’t easy kid, fuck, I have no damn clue as to what’s going through your own head right now, but that girl is here for a reason and I think it’s about time you gave it a fair shot.” He removed his hand and went to nudge Gavin’s coffee which sat idly. A pat on the back followed, signalling for Hank to move onward and give the detective space, which he did after a nod of his head. Hank hoped that the small gesture would be of some acknowledgment in some way.

Then Gavin was left to himself once more, watching as Connor and Madeleine exchanged conversation before parting. All he had to do was be less of ‘Asshole Gavin’ and more the ‘Kind Gavin’ he was getting familiar with, it couldn’t be that hard right? Wrong. So clearly wrong. The second he returned to his desk, his eyes were glued on the monitor in front of him, occasionally seeing out of the corner of his eye that his own daughter had physically shifted her belongings as to avoid him being directly opposite her. Oh fuck that stung bad, more than any bullet wound or any egotistical jab he had ever experienced, this was just straight up cruel. But, being the stubborn man he was, Gavin resumed with his work in a manner that suggested his distraction would hinder real progress. He struggled on anyways.

By the time it was 4 pm, half the precinct had clocked out and headed for their own homes, leaving Officer Tina Chen, Captain Fowler, Lieutenant Hank Anderson and Connor in Gavin’s company. Oh, and of course his kid, how could he forget? Gavin stared at the report he was filling out. The document was in the same state as it had been when he had returned from the breakroom earlier that day, the little cursor blinking at him patiently as he stared. Madeleine had long ago finished her school work for the day, and had announced this before retreating nervously. That had been the only thing she’d said while Gavin was “working”, or perhaps it was the only thing he had registered. Regardless, it was a rather pathetic attempt at reconciliation, but he did nothing to try and change that for the fear of messing up further.

All the while, Hank occasionally threw the detective dubious glances, internally fighting to at least say something to put them on the right track. This was against Connor’s opinion, as to which he argued that they’d need to be able to come to their own terms, so Hank had agreed to remain seated and watch on.

By the time Gavin’s shift was over, it was already 9 PM. Hank and Connor both having left the hour before with the night shift slowly making their own way through the precinct entrance. Gavin grumbled as he eyed Captain Fowler close his office for the night, before pushing back in his chair to collect his bearings. In the desk in front of him was the usual officer who used the desk as she did every night, this time waiting beside Madeleine with a curious gaze.  While the officer, her name Gavin didn’t know, was usually distant from him if they so happened to meet paths, she seemingly put two and two together and smiled warmly as the man shook the kid’s sleeping form. “Sorry.” He mumbled, and said nothing more.

“Oh it’s no problem.” The officer said, and it seemed as if she truly didn’t mind, unlike the sarcastic comments she’d usually spew whenever conversing with him. Within moments, Gavin had woken up Madeleine and hastily ushered her away, taking large strides as the girl quickened her pace. The officer stared at their retreating forms, shaking her head exasperatedly.

“Why the hell were you asleep?” the question was more of an accusation, startling the girl as they entered Gavin’s parked car. The little voice in his head had warned him against shouting, profusely screaming at him to stop and think for a moment. But his emotions wanted out, and Gavin didn’t know how to control emotions, so he gave them what they wanted, fuelled by an annoyance that seemingly had no source. Maybe he was just tired.

But Madeleine was wide awake, and unsure with how to respond. Past experiences told her to say silent since the adult yelling probably wanted to relieve their stress. So she looked away embarrassedly and let Gavin ramble on. “We had to fucking go and that officer only spared me the pity because you were there.” She watched him shake a head as the car started, and then they were off, left to sit in the awkward silence as Gavin fumed. What a start to the trial.

By the time they had arrived back at Gavin’s home, Pancake could sense the tension and decidedly left them alone. It only made Gavin feel worse as he wordlessly moved into the spare bedroom to set up a place for the girl in the living room. He pulled out the spare air mattress, tossing it to the side as he grabbed the manual air pump. He stomped on it in frustration, air gushing into the flat plastic with force. He stomped on it again, and again and again and again, with each slam of his foot, heavy breathing following. Pent up anger was not what he needed right now and it was ironically the fact that he was mad, that worked him up. His endless cycle of blame kept him focused as he plugged the cap of the makeshift bed, plopping onto it tiredly. He felt his body shift as the bed engulfed him, a sigh for the umpteenth time escaping his lips that day.

He knew he had to do better, he knew that it didn’t matter if he decided to take her in or not, because right now, she was there, and right now, she needed him. Or was it the other way around? He eventually sat up after another moment, and felt the world spin as the blood rose to his head before settling. He let out a grunt as he pulled bedding materials out of a cupboard, and rather messily set up the room accordingly. He was no professional, but the job was done to satisfactory standard so he deemed it enough and let it be.

There was nothing else. Gavin had regretted it the moment he went to bed, spending his remaining energy on the feeling. There was no conversation with the girl, there was no attempt at anything. He didn’t even prepare her a dinner and it was only after he had woken up that he realised that he didn’t even tell her that there was a bed waiting. Then he blamed himself some more for being so caught up in his own world, after seeing an empty cup of two minute noodles in the trash. Heck, Madeleine didn’t even have a proper blanket, her form curled up on the couch with her jacket coating her body. Even Pancake had found her presence more tolerable, the feline resting at her feet peacefully.

He grunted before preparing himself for the day, slamming the bathroom door with so much force, the vibrations made the house seemingly quake. Pancake and Madeleine awoke with a start and the day began.

Well, technically the day had begun the moment they entered the precinct, with Connor awaiting their arrival cheerfully. He informed the detective as to Fowler’s request to see him which didn’t surprise Gavin, before guiding the girl away and taking her back to his own desk. Gavin spotted the pair talking as he made his own way through the precinct, taking note that Hank was nowhere to be seen and reminded himself to ask Connor of his whereabouts.

Captain Fowler had already been waiting for him, as indicated by the document laid out on the tablet in hand. He offered it to Gavin, before taking a seat and clasping his hands together. “There’s been a B & E over in the Ravendale District, Anderson is already there and I need you to get your ass on the scene…” He eyed Madeleine cautiously as he hesitated, considering his next sentence. “She can go with you, _but_ she can’t enter the area. Connor will accompany you both.” Gavin wanted to protest, but knowing better than to argue with his superior, he nodded glumly as he was quickly dismissed.

Connor had been waiting as soon as he descended the stairs of the office, a smile in place with Madeleine behind him. “We can take my car, the ride isn’t that long.” The android offered, surprising Gavin at the idea of owning such item. In his mind, the detective had fully accepted that Connor had feelings, even going as far to believe they were a serious impact on his nature. Did he believe him human? Something about the obnoxious LED that whirled on the side of Connor’s head made it hard to see past that, then and again the android always went on about accepting himself as who he was. Nonetheless, Gavin had never considered Connor _owning_ such expensive purchases before and was certainly surprised to find it was a rather sleek and newer model. Connor could sense the surprise in Gavin’s posture, ushering for Madeleine and him to sit in the back seat.

They both had hesitated, and to anyone watching, it was obvious that they weren’t comfortable, but Connor had already moved on and was busy making his way to the front passenger seat. Gavin grunted before climbing inside, not even waiting for the girl to enter before shuffling to the furthest corner. Madeleine made no effort in trying to go nearer, so the two stubbornly looked out of their respective windows as Connor inspected their interactions.

It was then that Connor realised that Hank had been right after all, and that without help, the two would definitely remain stoic as ever. So he craned his neck around the chair and addressed them as the car’s autonomous features took over the controls. “I think that accepting each other’s presence could perhaps be a start to this?” he supplied helpfully, “I suggest talking?” When no response came from either human, Connor decided upon himself that it had become his mission to make them hold a simple conversation before the end of the car ride. Staring at the digital clock that faded into the plastic of the dashboard, it didn’t appear that there would be much time left, so Connor pressed on.

In the end, it wasn’t the remarks the android had made that specifically sparked one of them to speak, it was the fact that Connor had practically tried _everything_ and was _still_ trying, that made Madeline crack fist. “Does he have an off switch?” She turned to Gavin, somewhat proud for the pun she’d made in the spur of the moment. The interaction was limited to a single worded response, but if Gavin would return the prompt, Connor would be satisfied regardless.

“Unfortunately not.” Gavin nodded, a ghosting smirk across his lips, “Trust me, I’ve tried, nothing works.” There was a soft chuckle in response, and Connor couldn’t have been more excited, proud that his presence was able to contribute towards _something_ positive. Madeleine and Gavin had seemingly returned to their quiet states after that, but Connor saw them and it was too late to take anything back. There may still have been an awkward tension, but at least they were both smiling about it – definitely mission accomplished.

When the car pulled in to park and the doors raised upwards to let the three out, Madeleine had to take a full minute to process the crime scene before her. Gavin chuckled lowly at her reaction, following Connor who held a questionable gaze, but said nothing more of the teen that followed them on site. The less the captain knew, the better.

Glass windows of the shop had been completely obliterated, splinters of glass glistening like diamonds on the grey concrete. On further inspection, the store appeared to have been one of the few electronic stores that had remained in business after the advancements Detroit had made, with what Madeleine recognised as ‘ancient artefacts’. The majority of the shelves lingered with the scent of chemicals, and from further inspection after a ‘taste test’ to the girl’s horror, Connor had deduced that the substance that doused the room, was bleach.

Hank walked over to the new arrivals, nodding to Gavin before tilting his head curiously. “Madeleine, pleasure to see you here.” He said warmly, eyeing the detective besides her. “Your dad felt like clearly ignoring protocol I see.” He bemused, nudging Gavin in the rib lightly, “Relax, I don’t give a fuck, so long as she doesn’t touch shit, she was never here as far as I’m concerned.” He analysed the slight shift in expression in Gavin’s face, laughing lightly in response. “I’ve been here for the past couple hours. Nothing, zilch.”

The progress made was stupendously slow, unlike how the situation was preferred to have been. Connor could only recognised an empty bleach container, but fingerprints weren’t present to identify. “I’d automatically claim this as android involvement… however the owner claimed that the people he suspected were human.” He knelt to the ground, eyes darting frantically, as if something would appear magically. “I see no footprints or other signs of entry apart from the obvious windows, the damage done to the register and computer system have rendered it inaccessible, and even if we piece this back together, I have no ways of accessing it, my technology is too advanced for the system to communicate with.”

Madeleine followed the directed gaze towards the cash register, eyes trailing to the PC it was coupled with. The screen was black and the hard drive was left hanging open, multicolour wires splayed out like rainbow spaghetti. “This is gonna sound dumb, but aren’t there cameras?” she asked, wandering towards the machine.

“Yes, but it’s linked up with the system which as stated, is inoperable.” Connor reminded her, interestedly watching her peer inside of the box’s shell. She didn’t touch anything, as advised not to, but it was clear that she wanted to take a look for herself. Connor thoughtfully grabbed the spare gloves Hank had brought along, tossing a pair expertly to the girl who caught them stunned. “I think the skills you demonstrated before with our precinct may become rather useful.” He said, a smile of encouragement gracing his features.

Madeleine looked towards Gavin expectantly, reluctant to do more in the fear that she would be told off. To her surprise, and Gavin’s as a matter of fact, the detective gave a sigh and a wave of his hand, indicating that she was ok to proceed. Not a second later, the elastic was stretched and released over her fingers, as she began to pull away the casing of the hard drive. There was only a moment of hesitation before the girl cried out in triumph, turning to see the three behind her. “I got it, the spindle is stuck, gimme a sec, I think I can correct it.”

Connor scanned the hardware and pulled up a blueprint of the specific model they had in front of them. Embarrassedly, he could have probably done the same thing and figured the issue out himself, had he gone ahead and done it, however it still didn’t mean he’d be able to access the contents with ease. His own programs were too complex for the little PC’s Windows 10. Thankfully, after a little luck, Madeleine had seemingly managed to bypass the security log in, with the help of Gavin’s discovery of the log book for the store.

Connor felt silly for the rush of conclusions, but Hank appeared unfazed by his slight error, so the android let it slide. In fact, after the small teamwork that was needed to access the security footage, it had appeared that Gavin was fairly comfortable with talking to Madeleine, who were both in deep discussion as to their current case. Connor turned to see Hank, who leaned over behind them to point out what appeared to be the guy they were after.

“So our perp is the store owner.” Connor heard, “Figured that’d be him, running a store for old tech in this day and age? No way you’re gonna make any money. He probably did it for insurance.” There was a murmur of agreement that came after, and Connor knew that things were bound to change.

After a few more minutes after recording the evidence in their possession, the group of four headed back to the precinct. Being lunchtime, the bullpen had been deserted with the only ones present at the reception desk. This wasn’t a problem however, as now they could enjoy the space for themselves.

Madeleine threw the paper trash from her burger away, choosing to pull her laptop open while Gavin made himself a coffee. From where she sat, at the same desk as the day before, she could see Hank accompanying her father as Connor eyed her screen. “Minecraft.” The android read the tittle screen, LED spinning as he searched for reference to the name. “A 2011 sandbox video game. This was well before your time, what makes you so interested in it?” The girl only grinned before loading up a new world full of cubed graphics, controlling her character easily.

“It’s kinda made a call back? Not so sure, but it’s still running after all these years and everyone plays it, so why not?” Connor couldn’t argue with that logic, and so he remained silent as he watched Madeleine do various things. He wasn’t quite sure _what_ it was exactly, but she appeared to have known what she was doing.

“There are no objectives to a sandbox game.” He eventually realised, catching the detective and lieutenant’s attention. “What’s the point of playing a game that has no purpose?”

“You’re creative?” Gavin supplied helpfully, a sip from his mug as he looked over Madeleine’s shoulder. “Fuck, minecraft? You’re part of the minority that _still_ find the game fun? Jesus Christ my kid is a dweeb.” The comment went without malice, to which Madeleine took note of, smiling faintly at the familial relations Gavin had spoken of. Since arriving, it had probably been the first comment he had said out of pure will that was kind. Admittedly in the previous case there was communication along with the quick lunch pit stop they made on the way back, but most of that conversation was used to discuss the break in.

Hank snorted at Gavin’s comment, “Reminds me of someone else we all know.” Madeleine laughed at that.

It wasn’t long before _somehow_ it was revealed that both Hank and Gavin had their own accounts from when they were younger, and then it was revealed that Connor could download the game quite quickly. And soon enough, using Connor’s network— because Gavin didn’t want their history on government systems and he _was_ rather reluctant to play, the four of them had an open LAN server. So when Captain Fowler and the rest of the precinct slowly returned, they were met with the shouts and hollers of two grown men, one android detective and a 16 year old girl. And it was a happy moment, because not a single officer that saw Gavin Reed, could truly recall a time where he’d been so excited before.

“Fuck Mads, why did we decide to go exploring without our shit?!” He yelled, fingers jamming at the ‘W’, ‘A’, ‘S’ and ‘D’ keys. He wasn’t sure when he started to address her by nickname, and to be fair, he couldn’t really pinpoint when he’d given in to the ‘cringiest game in the world’, but as Hank and Connor both effectively wiped out the mobs that had spawned around him, he knew he wouldn’t trade it for the world.

But unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and while the Captain had allowed for the four to continue playing since it was such a peculiar sight, it was around the fourth time that Gavin had thrown something across the room in sheer exhilaration, that he knew he had to direct them back to their work.

And he knew that he should have learnt by now, that he should really keep his emotions under control, but the embarrassment after being told off by his captain left a mark. Gavin’s face was red, and everyone could recognise _that_ look. Fowler could see him from his office where he retreated to, and he knew that he regretted speaking up the moment Gavin became reclusive.

Madeleine seemed to have realised as well, and was visibly seen to have dullen. She knew better than to say anything as to not provoke the man, but even seeming to sit opposite was enough to trigger him. She had shifted to the other side of the L-shaped desk, and that small time where everything just fell into place had now come undone.

 _There’s nothing wrong with fun._ Gavin chanted in his head, the mantra blocking out anything that presented itself to him. But no matter how many times he heard the inner voice, it didn’t make him feel any better.

“Son, let’s go outside.” Hank’s voice was what finally managed to pull him out of the trance he was in, shocking him as he found his body moving involuntarily. He wanted to slap him, shove him aside and shake himself free. His personal space bubble had just been popped – but he moved as if on autopilot, not really registering where they were headed until he found them standing in the car park. “Gavin, calm yourself.” Hank spoke lowly.

“Phck off old man!” Usually Hank would take the chance to retaliate in spite of him, but instead he sighed and forced him to sit at the curb of the road guards. Gavin waved a hand carelessly before stumbling, regaining his balance as Hank offered a hand to him. He begrudgingly took it. “The fuck Hank?! I’m a grown ass man!” There was a scoff that followed that comment which thankfully went unheard.

“Gavin, no one gave a shit that you were playing a video game for kids. You need to get that out of your head.” He shook his head, sitting beside him slowly as he stared at the younger’s reaction. Gavin remained silent after that, and by the looks of things, had begun to take interest in what he had to say. “Shit, you really gotta stop thinking the worst of everyone, like, I understand that a bitch was being a bitch, but not everyone is like that.”

“You think that bitch _didn’t_ ruin my life?” He immediately spat, “Say that to my fucking face again, I dare you.”

Hank raised his hands up in mock surrender. “Ok, ok, I’m not sayin’ nothin’.” He reiterated, “But be honest with me, is Madeleine _really_ the worst thing in the world?” The detective seemed to have physically cringed, curling up into himself as Hank went on. The older man had a point, and now there was nothing but guilt radiating from his being.

“Forget it.” Gavin mumbled, head shaking lowly. He grabbed his face in his hands as he left out a frustrated growl, Hank patiently waiting for him to calm down. After what seemed like forever, he gave a shaky breath before lifting his head up, eyes squinting at the bright world. It was clear that he’d calmed down significantly as his face had returned to its normal colour and his ragged breath had returned to a natural state. Wordlessly, Gavin nodded and then stood up, Hank watching as he made his way back inside, wondering if the detective had listened to anything he’d said at all.

Madeleine warily watched the man as he re-entered, throwing himself tiredly into his chair. Looking around, no other officer appeared to have realised, making it look as if the girl had merely imagined everything. She played along, and returned to her silent schoolwork as the detective eyed her hesitantly. For a moment, she thought he’d day something, perhaps open his mouth and apologise or at least act kinder. But he remained silent, mouth gapping open like a goldfish before closing instantly and then the rest of the day followed.

At half past five, Madeleine had begun to feel the result of sitting for so long, legs cramping as her feet turned numb with the prickles of pins and needles. She sighed audibly, then stretched her arms in an effort to loosen up. Gavin hadn’t noticed, he’d been staring at his screen just as he’d done the past few hours, the same spot, the same image. She chose not to comment. Instead, she kicked back for her spot and rose, bending down to stretch a little more before tucking the office chair in. Gavin _had_ noticed that, and as the girl turned her head in Connor and Hank’s direction, he watched as she made her way over.

“Miss Reed, finished school work I suppose?” Hank smirked, a somewhat authentic British accent laced in his voice. “My dear, you know I’d rather stay and keep chatting but alas,” His arms opened wide as he referenced his work station, eyeing Connor thoughtfully, “Although… ah whatever, Connor’s probably got it sorted eh?” The accent was dropped and Madeleine had to stifle a small giggle as Connor entered their conversation.

“Yes, our work is officially 100% completed, just in time too, we were about to leave early.” The slight disappointment on the girl’s face didn’t go unnoticed however, and in result, the cop duo stayed far later than they probably would ever have had they been doing after time. But there wasn’t a complain, Connor, for whatever reason, had a pack of cards, Uno, stashed away in his drawer, among a variety of games including Cluedo, four novelty Monopoly games, Hungry Hungry Hippos and what Madeleine recognised as 10 different coloured sets of Barrels of Monkeys. The look the android earned from the two was ludicrous, to which he simply shrugged. “Human culture fascinated me.” He claimed, so Hank just shook his head and went with it.

From across the room, at the desk with the clearest path to the trio, Gavin clenched his fists and dug his nails into his skin. The crescent marks reddening in his palms stinging as his lips drew blood once more. Yeah, he wanted to be there too, he could admit that. And he hated how it came so easily to the plastic and lieutenant. Well, of course it would; Hank _was_ a father, and Connor had social modules he used. Gavin didn’t have either, he was being flung into the deep end without any idea of how to swim. Hank had already learnt and Connor was cruising on a boat he’d been given.

It felt quite unfair, to be stranded in such position, and not only to fail at being a father, his work was surely crumbling in result. He stared angrily at the blank document before him and silently thanked that the majority of the Officers had left, the only sounds accompanying him being the continuous slamming of plastic against hand and little marbles rolling around the board of Hungry Hungry Hippos. He blamed that stupid woman he dated. Stupid her, stupid liar, stupid bitch, stupid, stupid, stupid. He wanted to have never met her, to have never have been vulnerable, to have never felt _anything_ for her, to have never— Madeleine laughed, and the sound rang in Gavin’s ears. Almost like a spell, just her excitement alone had _him_ enraptured. And suddenly Hank’s previous conversation with him was speaking outwards, like a sign from above which hardly made sense seeing as the man didn’t believe in God… but what if there was one?

He found himself rising and making his way over. What was he doing? What was his impulse telling him? And as the others eyed his movements, a small ray of hope flashed between them. Gavin knew what he had to do, the logic in his head had clearly pointed the obvious out, and as he finally reached the three, who’s delight had died down, Gavin relapsed into the one version of himself he despised so much. “Come on, we’re leaving.” He didn’t spare a second glance.

He just couldn’t get over himself. He just couldn’t see past all this… _anger_. All these pent up emotions that for years, never had a proper outlet. Gavin Reed knew himself to be cunning, brave, dare he say handsome, and self-indulgent – yes, he could see his flaws, but never, in his entire life, had he found it so hard to just be a decent human being. The second day with his own kid and it would end no better than the last, spent on nothing but an old grudge for a woman he hadn’t seen in years.

He blinked as they passed through the door, Pancake asleep in his own bed for once. Madeleine placed herself on his couch and her bag at her feet, before pulling out her phone. Why did it have to be so hard? Gavin wanted to throw himself out of the window in sheer frustration.

He eyed the spare room across from his as he went into the bathroom, then for the entirety of his shower, his mind lingered on his stupidly stubborn brain.

Madeleine had heard the shower turn on only momentarily before beginning to dial a number. She placed the device against her ear and curled up into a ball, a sigh escaping her lips as a tear fell down her face, hastily smearing it across her features in an attempt to get rid of it. By the fourth ring, the line went quiet with a click, and her social worker’s voice called out. “Maddie! I’m glad you called, how are you doing with your father?”

“Oh… it’s… ok.” The girl replied, biting her lip doubtfully. “But… I don’t think it’s going to work, the rest of the week I mean… Lilly, I think he hates me.” She sounded dejected by the end of her confession, brimming with tears as she sniffled them back.

“Oh honey…” Lilly’s voice was that of an understanding mother, and it made Madeleine want to cry even more, but she sucked in a harsh breath before steadying her breathing, giving a nod that the other could not see. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out, I’m proud you gave it your all but I understand. If you’d like, I can pick you up first thing tomorrow morning, around 10 am, how does that sound? I’d leave immediately but it’s late and I don’t think Detective Reed would be very happy.” The girl sighed before eyeing the bathroom.

“Thank you Lilly, I’ll let him know tonight.” She mumbled, “I’ll see you tomorrow, thank you.”

“You’re welcome honey, see you tomorrow, goodnight.” The echoing beeps met Madeleine’s ears as she lowered her phone, eyes blankly staring out into space.

Her stomach growled and she stood up, alerted to her body’s needs, just as Gavin entered the kitchen and pulled something out from the freezer. She paused, unsure, before returning to the couch and she almost felt that he was watching her with eyes on the back of his head. “You gotta eat something.” He eventually said, catching her off guard, as a microwave pizza was presented towards her. She dared to lock eyes with him, and grabbed a slice before cautiously beginning to eat it. The man sighed and plopped into the seat beside her and began fiddling with his hands in his lap. She could visibly see a struggle on his face, but she dared not to speak out, instead, taking an interest to the remaining crust of the bread.

“You know… I get it’s not easy.” She began, only once sure he’d not say more. “I…I am appreciative for it, thankful that you gave me this week as a trial. I know it’s not easy…” She didn’t know where else she was going with her words, but she knew she had to mention her departure. And just as she figured she knew what to say, Gavin decided to take turn in the conversation.

“You’re a good kid.” He nodded, grabbing another slice of the pizza, “I’m just a shitty person in general.” His confession held a pause afterwards, and Madeleine could see that he was trying to say something that had been on his mind for a while. She stayed silent as he sighed heavily. “Look, I don’t usually do the whole ‘emotions are they key to relationships’ thing, but I’m trying to not be a fucking asshole all the time and I can’t do that unless I say this shit.” The girl raised her eyebrows at him questioningly. “Fuck, kid, I’m not what you were expecting… and I’m sorry that I’m not doing any better. Fucking— Shit, I can only try, and I know that I’ve slipped up this entire time… but I did have fun… when we were playing that game and shit…”

His confession was all over the place, dishevelled and messy and clearly not planned, but the thought was what counted so Gavin prayed that his slight epiphany in the shower of all places, would be enough to prove he was trying. She stared at him incredulously, mouth open agape and eyes wide. Gavin felt like he’d grown four heads, and suddenly didn’t know what to do with himself. “Are you gonna fucking say something or what? I mean—“ He sucked in a deep breath, shaking his head clear, “Er… I’m not sure exactly what else to do…?”

Madeleine slowly turned to look at the pizza on the table questioningly, before recalling her previous conversation with Lilly. “I… I uh, wasn’t expecting you to say that.” She blurted out, “But uhm, I appreciate it, I really do… I mean, thanks.” She went silent after that, nervously smiling at Gavin. The man nodded his head before returning the look, turning to face her bravely. “I admit I had an idealistic image of you in mind… you were… nicer, kind, caring… not afraid of anything… and I think that you’re still those things, somehow, just in a different way.” She shifted uncomfortably in place as she observed him.

Gavin felt light headed, surprised that Madeleine would be thinking such things about him, especially after what he had done. But the detective knew better than to question the girl and so instead thanked her.

It was quite different to be on the receiving end of a compliment, usually it were insults and tantalising remarks made about him, but no, Madeleine had only said sweet things. So the two sat in silence for a little while longer, and everything was alright.

 

~~~

 

Pancake jumped onto Gavin’s face the second the feline awoke, startling the man who spluttered incoherently as he swatted the ball of fur away. He glared playfully, shaking his head with a sigh as he slipped out of his bed and made his way to the living quarters, stopping by the guest room to peer in.

Madeleine lay asleep on the spare mattress, peacefully snoring as her chest rose with her breath. The serenity of the moment was blissful; Gavin almost didn’t want it to end, and suddenly he was thankful that he would be working from home that day. He continued to watch her a little more, admittedly feeling a bit creepy the longer he remained, but the girl rolled to her side and sighed heavily, opening her eyes not a second longer.

“Oh! Da- uh… Gavin.” She jumbled, sitting upright and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. A yawn passed her lips as she outstretched her arms, dropping them lazily beside her as she worked her jaw tiredly. “Good morning.” She said, smiling lightly towards him.

Gavin felt his face heat up in embarrassment at her slip up. Ah yes, he was a dad, that one small detail he seemingly forgot. It was still quite a surreal fact, and yet it was one that he didn’t mind. He slowly entered the room and made his way to her, sitting at the edge of her bed with his hands clasped in his lap. “Morning to you to.” He said, eyeing the wall opposite them, “I’m working from home today so uh… anything you feel like doing? I’m not exactly sure what dad-daughter bonding _is_.” The palpitations in his chest had told him that he was nervous, but nothing he did seemed to calm him down. Where was this niceness coming from? What was with the sudden change? The only logical conclusion that he could come up with was that no one but them were present, and that paved the pathway of invulnerability clear.

Madeleine took note of the struggle in his face, before smiling fondly and jumping out of the quilted covers. “Well…” She began, eyeing him excitedly, “What if we go to the Detroit observatory?” Gavin raised his eyebrows in question at her proposal, throwing a hand in the vague direction of the window.

“Uhm… Mads… it’s morning.” He deadpanned, and the girl laughed at his reaction.

“They have special exhibits and stuff, we could do the stargazing tonight after seeing the attractions they have.” She explained, procuring a brochure from her bag that lay beside the wall. It was printed in that fancy, glossy paper that magazines used, folded into thirds with pictures of the dark skies covering it. Gavin inspected it curiously before offering a questioning glance. “Oh, Connor spoke fondly about it.” She explained, twiddling her fingers, “While you were talking to Hank yesterday, he suggested we should go if we had time to spare… we don’t have to but uh… I figured it would be… fun?”

Gavin nodded in thought as he took the information pamphlet out of Madeleine’s hands, flicking through it and skimming the words splayed on the page. If Connor suggested it, it had to be good he figured. Gavin may not always agree with him, but he could credit the android’s taste in activities. With a slap of the leaflet against his thigh, he returned it to Madeleine and stood up smiling. “Alright then, the Detroit Observatory it is.”

Madeleine grinned. “Well, I should get ready. I won’t be long.” She promised, ushering the man outside of her room. With the door shut, she skipped to her overnight bag, and with a spring in her spirit that she could finally recognise, she happily prepared for the day. It was a surprise to find Gavin had turned around, a surprise that had restored the hope she thought had been lost. Gavin Reed was certainly full of surprises and she couldn’t wait for more.

By the time it was 9:45, Madeleine had finished finalising their day bag for the excursion, Gavin being sure to holster his gun, for whatever reason he had, and slipped his badge around the loop in his belt. It shone at his hip, intriguing Madeleine as Gavin pulled a leather jacket over his shirt, watching as the metal concealed the symbol of status. The two exchanged a somewhat unsure yet giddy smile, as Gavin pocketed his keys and the girl slung the bag over her shoulder, leading the way to the front door.

It was not expected that someone would be waiting outside as soon as they did this, however there she stood, with a tired expression and a clipboard in hand with a pen fiddled in the other. Lilly smiled as Gavin opened his mouth to speak, confusion written clearly across his face. “Detective Reed, what coincidental timing.” She commended, frowning herself in question. “Did Madeleine not tell you of my arrival?” Gavin opened his mouth to speak but shut it abruptly, whizzing his head around to eye the girl.

Madeleine trembled nervously in place, eyeing the way that Gavin stared at her with the most expressionless stare. Lily was no longer smiling and now frowning, biting her lips as the girl stumbled for the proper words. How did she forget? How could she not call Lilly and cancel? It truly felt as if some celestial being had been toying with her, and for once, after believing she was finally getting the chance to be with proper family, it’s taken away instantly.

“I-I um… I forgot to um-“

A brief second and she thought Gavin would be her saviour, sighing as he shook his head dismissively. “Yeah she told me.” He grumbled, astonishing Madeleine as he moved aside. Like a light switch, the atmosphere had changed and the rare smile was wiped off clean. “You can go get your shit and fucking go.” He said, allowing the woman at the door to enter. Madeleine remained rooted to the ground, almost too scared to move as she held gaze with Gavin for what felt like an eternity. The longer the stare, the quicker he felt himself grow hotter, and with the betrayal that stabbed him straight in the heart, he let out the anguish he contained. “What the fuck are you waiting for? Grab your shit and leave.” He commanded yet no one dared to move. “FUCKING GO GRAB YOUR SHIT!”

Lilly walked over to Madeleine instantly, nudging her to turn around and grab her belongings. It was a blur from there, and Gavin was just too mad at the world and himself to keep a light head. But he did see the tears that brimmed in her eyes, and maybe that’s what was most infuriating of all. Because _he_ did that to her. He was the reason she had called Lilly to come pick her up before the trial week was over. _Fuck_ , he couldn’t last a _week_ before the kid gave up on him… What did that mean for himself?

As Madeleine quickly walked away with the faint sound of sniffles trailing behind her, Gavin released an animalistic growl from his chest, throwing himself into the sofa with his head between his knees. “Fucking hell.” He mumbled, just audibly enough for Lilly to hear and direct her attention to him frowning.

“Detective, I don’t know what happened last night, but your daugh- Madeleine called me quite distressed. After witnessing this morning-“

“Shut it.” He snapped, shooting the woman a glare of pure hatred. “You know jack shit. Do yourself a favour and fuck off already.” He stood up and towered over her, but Lilly refused to budge, instead returning her own stern glare. He was already mad at himself, he didn’t need it to be rubbed in any further, he just wanted everything to go away and leave him alone.

“I will be gladly leaving your premises, and I will be taking Madeleine with me.” She declared rightfully, “And don’t worry; I’ll personally make sure that you no longer need to see her.” A finger was jabbed in his direction, and although he was never prodded, it felt like a slap to the face. The woman crossed her arms, angrily turning down the hall to find Madeleine, disappearing from Gavin’s view entirely.

Gavin yelled curses again, as he stomped back and forth across his apartment. It had taken no longer than 5 minutes before the two girls reappeared and Gavin could clearly see the damage he’d done for himself. Madeleine was in a state of hyperventilation, slowly huddling behind Lilly as the woman carried her belongings with her. She offered words of kindness, gently soothing her as they walked, but the glare she held for Gavin proved how badly he’d messed up. Madeleine hiccoughed, wiping away still falling tears as her eyes burned and itched with redness, the same eyes Gavin had – he’d never seen them in such state before.

The girl didn’t even spare him a glance, wordlessly hobbling towards the door as Lilly harshly threw it open, turning her head around to stare one last time, venom dripping from her lips. “Congratulations Detective, I wish you a good life.”  Gavin said nothing as the two forced their way through the door, pushing past people and disappearing.

“What the fuck just happened.” Gavin stared straight into the lieutenant’s eyes, numb and unfeeling as he sat down monotonously. The lieutenant threw a glance to Lilly and Madeleine who’d made their way to the woman’s car and had already begun to leave, at a loss for words. “We just arrive and they’re barging outta here like—“ Hank paused as he observed the younger man’s limp body, motioning to Connor to follow him inside the apartment and shut the door. “Shit, son, what happened?” Hank slowly sat beside Gavin in an attempt to appear welcoming, Connor opting to sit on the edge of the coffee table before them.

“Fuck off old man.” Gavin said, although there was no effort within the offense. “Just… fucking leave me alone, go drink somewhere and take that plastic piece of shit—“ But he wasn’t even bothered to finish the remainder of that sentence, stunned into a silence as Connor placed a hand on top of his own.

“I’m not good at… emotions, either.” The android admitted doubtfully, “But I can tell that you’re quite stressed, even without my module’s assistance. Talking can help, you know that from past experiences.” He reminded the man of the times the few days before, offering a small smile as Gavin stared at their hands. It was oddly warm, he never really understood the technology behind such innovations, but it felt real, and as he removed his hand from the other, he felt a slight hesitation tug at his muscles.

“There’s nothing _to_ fucking talk about. You saw the shit storm.” He sighed, massaging his temple.

“But that’s not what was meant to happen.” Hank said gently, “We were all planning to go to the observatory. We only came because you two didn’t show, and it was clear that by the time we arrived, you weren’t expecting that lady.”

Gavin glared at his hands as he fidgeted in place. “No, I fucking wasn’t.” He admitted begrudgingly, “But that stupid bitch called that fucking woman last night—“ He drew a shaky breath, shaking his head silently. “Madeleine wasn’t— isn’t a stupid bitch.” He corrected himself, heart beating at an irregular pace as a sore lump in his throat built up. “But she’d called, obviously before we started talking and fucking asked to go home.” Gavin swallowed but he choked on thin air, eyes stinging themselves just as he’d witnessed his own kid’s before she abandoned him. “What the _fuck_.”

It was clear that he’d never cried with such emotion before, clutching at his chest as though it hurt, as if he’d been shot. Strangled gaspes were spluttering from his lips and soon he found himself in the midst of a breakdown, tears and wheezing and the struggle to just make some sort of buzzing in his head stop. He was in _pain_ and never had Gavin Reed experienced anything quite like it.

“Gavin, calm down.” Hank’s voice called out among the static, a hand rubbing circles as he felt himself sob horribly. “Calm down, it’s ok. You were doing your best… we know that.” But the man just continued to cry, not even caring that Connor had turned to holding his hand as a form of grounding. He felt himself squeeze the android’s hand tightly, feeling a reassuring squeeze back in return.

“T-the fuck?!” He almost wailed, his free hand reaching to rip at the hair on his head, locks clumping together with sweat and tears from his hands. “S-she fu-ucking… F-fucking! FUCK!” Nothing he said was coherent, and almost all of it went misinterpreted by Hank, who remained silent and continued to simply listen. “S-stu-pid, f-fucking… I _tried_.” His whispers went strangled, an effort to breathe as he squeezed his eyes shut and continued to tear at his hair. “Sh-she… sh-e she s-s-he doe-sn’t.” He paused as he forced a deep and heavy breath, audible gasping as the tension in his fistful of hair had loosened. He swallowed, feeling the dryness stick his throat closed and after a few more, the burning of heat in his face told him he was flushed. Knuckles went red as the full tension both in his hair and Connor’s hand was released, both falling limp as the android continued to hold them softly.

“It’s ok.” Connor said, voice seeming to sound calmer than it was already programmed to be. “It’s not your fault. You did your best.” Gavin shook his head feverishly.

“S-she doesn’t… she doesn’t know that. She thinks I-I’m some fu-fucking… shit dad.” He said lowly, eyes shifting downwards. “I- I fucking…Fucked up.” Finally Gavin decided to stand up and trudge towards his bathroom, sombrely mumbling a “Just gimme a minute…” to the two in his living room.

Connor could only watch after him as he processed what had happened, deciphering and analysing the way that Gavin had reacted. Human emotions weren’t his thing, he’d said that openly already. But despite the struggle, he knew that had he’d been in the detective’s position, he would have broken down the exact same way. Connor stared in a loss at Hank, a frown on his features as the lieutenant exchanged his own concern. “Detective Gavin Reed isn’t the friendliest of people.” Connor began, “But I know that he was trying his best… It just doesn’t seem…” He cut himself short as Hank raised an eyebrow.

“Fair?” He offered, the android nodding once, “Yeah it’s not…” He sighed, staring off at the closed door, “It’s really not.”

“I feel that I need to do _something_.” He said in restraint, as if struggling to figure out what it was that he was compelled to do. “I don’t feel right sitting here when something could be done.” Hank shrugged in response as Connor reviewed his memories, scanning over the words that Gavin had muttered. “S-stu-pid, f-fucking… I _tried_.” His mind replayed, and he apparently said them allowed, earning a shocked look from Hank in return. “I don’t think they got a proper farewell.”

“Well Connor, they kind of hurried the hell outta here, without giving him a chance to even explain, so I don’t think goodbyes were in the plan.” Connor turned to think momentarily, nodding in agreement to Hank’s words.

“You’re right Hank.” Connor agreed, standing up almost instantly, shrugging off his jacket and tossing it to the man. “Hold this, it’ll only weigh me down.” And without another word, the android bolted towards the front door, expertly unlocking it within seconds and throwing behind him. Hank stood up and shouted, confused and surprised by the sudden decision before witnessing the android run off into the street with the agility and predetermination that only an android could possibly have.

Hank sat back down and stared dumbfounded as the front door loosely swung on its hinges. “What the absolute _fuck_.”

 

~~~

 

Connor praised himself on being a good android. A good boy, the perfect friend, companion, son. He followed the rules, he took advice, and tried to help people as much as he possibly could. It could be argued that it was in his programming to be like this, but he personally thought it his own, that the original programming he had wasn’t ever bad and that he quite liked it even after deviating.

So to run down the street with the greatest precision in jumping cars, avoiding people and keeping in pace, while admittedly yelling curses from the top of his artificial lungs to “MOVE OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY!”, it wasn’t a sight that most people were accustomed to. In fact, the general population that recognised him, because to be fair, you’d be an idiot if you didn’t, were shouting after him in attempts to just figure out _why_ this usually goofy android had taken chase like a mad man.

It was drawn to the conclusion that he was on a case, and to be fair, it made sense, but reality was that the android hadn’t even been on duty that day, and he was in fact tracking down the car that carried Madeleine and Lilly. Was it the dumbest idea he had ever had? Absolutely. The more he dodged oncoming traffic and people, the higher the probability for failure appeared in his peripheral, climbing up to an astonishing 78%. But Connor continued to give chase, jumping over a car as he raced onto the highway, actuators within him _begging_ for him to stop. After passing another two cars, because damn was he determined, he leapt from his position behind a truck and into the top, scanning the quickly passing scenery as he allowed his bio components to repair the small errors and loops they’d been locked in.

And then, not too far ahead, he eyed the vehicle he was after, on the end of exiting the motorway and only four jumps away. The chances of survival weren’t high, Connor would admit that, and he knew that it wasn’t worth risking his life to catch up to a car that would most likely stop at a traffic light. But he slid down the windshield, surprising the truck driver as he jumped off of the hood on the opposite side, and began weaving his way in between the other cars. “MADELEINE REED!” He screamed, voice box glitching at the volume he projected his voice. A hand stuck out the window, a middle finger in his sight as he identified the hand belonging to Lilly.

The car did nothing of the sort to stop, and with the exit up ahead, Connor decided that it would be now or never to stop them. He turned his head to the side, eyeing the pull over lane and immediately ran towards it, processors searching frantically for a calculated route that was guarantee to work. And just as his processor repeatedly flashed an ugly 15%, or 23%, occasionally the dreaded 2%, in the far corner, as time seemingly slowed for his preconstruction programs, he saw a final option that played out through perfectly.

The car swerved in the direction that Connor had planned, a slight bang as metal collided with metal and the tires screeched to a halt immediately, jutting out on the curb of the exit as the engine immediately switched off. Connor grinned triumphantly as he made his way towards the vehicle, stumbling with the imbalance in his body as Lilly exited the front seat. He saw her bend down around the front of the car and take a step back as Connor’s GUI notified him of the errors in his software.

“Connor?” Madeleine’s voice called out, her figure following out of the car to eye what they had hit. “Connor what is going on?!” Lilly turned to meet gaze with said android, a look of pure shock written across her face as she took a step towards Madeleine.

“I appreciate you stopping for me.” The android smiled, as if nothing had been the matter and he had merely hollered at them. Lilly spluttered wordlessly at his appearance and took note of his dishevelled form. Connor caught her gaze before nodding. “Yes, I did run from Detective Reed’s house to find you both, once more I thank you for stopping.”

Lilly turned to point behind her, a dent in the bumper of the car prominently sticking out. “We hit your fucking _leg_.” A hand ran through her hair, “How on earth did we even— you were behind us! I swore I-“

“I detached my leg and threw it.” He said simply, “I knew that there wasn’t even the slightest chance you would get hurt, my program turned a 100% success rate.” Madeleine opened her mouth to speak after deciding to kneel beside Connor’s limb.

“Success rate huh? Humans aren’t just some-“

“You didn’t stop when he asked you to.” Madeleine said quietly, intervening. “Besides, I trust his judgement, while unethical yes, I’m guaranteed he wouldn’t have accepted anything but 100%...correct?” Connor nodded at the girl.

“I was in need of speaking with Ms Reed, after the events that happened this morning, I feel I ought to share some information.” With a proper scan at her vitals, Connor could clearly tell she’d been crying for a lengthy part of the car ride, her elevated heart rate only indicating that she had barely stopped before he had caught up to them. But Connor paused his investigational programs and decided it was best to address the matter at hand, offering another lopsided smile in return.

“Well we aren’t hearing it.” Lilly stated defensively, “Detective Reed clearly expressed his disliking toward Madeleine and there’s no point in forcing someone to become someone they are not.” Her form was ridged but clearly calmer than before, talking with a hurried tone as she tried to usher Madeleine back into the car.

“No wait, Lilly, I wanna hear him.” Madeleine hesitated, pushing away from the woman.

“To be fair, Gavin had been trying his best. He admitted himself that he was, I say and quote; “- a shit dad.” But he did go out of his way, out of his comfort zone, to accommodate a daughter he never knew he had. By no way do I excuse the harsh behaviour he has, but there are walls that have taken a while to crumble, and emotions, dare I say it, are not his strong suit.” The explanation was kept to those few sentences, and already Connor feared he’d over stepped a boundary, but after a single look at the teen girl, a light weight filled his chest wholeheartedly; mission successful.

Lilly sighed before placing a delicate hand on Madeleine, turning to face her directly. “Perhaps I was a little harsh.” She admitted, “But I hope you know that I was just concerned, my main priority is to find you a safe place to live, and that phone call last night had me concerned… but I want you to tell me right now what you want, and that is exactly what we’ll do, no judgement from me, or Connor.” She added, giving the android a nod.

Madeleine nervously looked towards the two as she twiddled her thumbs idly, eyes downcast as she sighed. “I want to go see my father again.” She began, “Even if he doesn’t want me in the end, and I wouldn’t blame him— I want to talk with him… there are things we both need to say and… I don’t think I could forgive myself if I never tried.” Connor leant against the hood of the car as Lilly nodded, slowly moving aside.

“Alright then, we’ll go back.” She said, eyeing Connor’s detached leg. “Grab… your leg and get in. I don’t think you’ll make it back in er, two pieces or less on your own.” She said awkwardly, opening the door for the android. Connor smiled gratefully as he picked up the heavy weight of plastic and metal, tucking it under his arm and entering the side door of the car. The rod was inserted into the joint of his knee socket and with a grunt, forced back into its place as his systems recognised his limb once more. Several warning signs flashed as notifications covered his line of vision. Three motors and an actuator had snapped, bent and broken while the synthetic skin was torn into an irreversible hole. Connor curiously poked at the wire, amused to find that the thirium had drained out of the oddly formed appendage already, and that the flickering lights were all that could be seen.

“Can I see?” Madeleine asked, shifting into the middle seat and clipping her seatbelt into the loop. “Sorry… It’s fascinating.” Connor smiled and folded his damaged leg over his other, raising it slightly so that Madeleine could see. The pant leg had been previously rolled up and so the girl gently touched the injury sight. Connor received output data as to where sensors felt Madeleine’s fingers, but most were beyond broken and could barely detect anything at all. It was like he didn’t even have one. “I could fix it for you.” She offered, amused to find Connor jerk as she poked at the snapped actuator. “That is, if you don’t have replacements.” Connor turned to smile at her before looking at his broken leg, his foot limply rolled around without any form of connection to the rest of him.

“I’d appreciate that very much, but you don’t need to do anything of the sort, I wouldn’t want to be a nuisance.”

“Nonsense.” Madeleine grinned, lightly tapping the LED at Connor’s head and rotating her finger clockwise. With another second, the kneecap popped open and the leg fell with a heavy thud, and Madeleine picked it up with a slight grunt. “Did not expect it to be that heavy.”  She noted as she began to inspect the outer casing, eyeing Connor’s shoe that was still attached. She awkwardly handed it back to him, smiling as he laughed and took it from her, staring at the perfectly intact sole.

“When did you learn all about androids?” Connor asked, watching her hand disappear inside the calf. It was rather odd, to see her fishing around in his own leg that wasn’t attached, but he didn’t seem to mind if she was willing to learn. Even if his leg couldn’t be repaired, he knew that purchasing a spare part was always a viable option.

“It’s part of the online class I’m taking.” Madeleine mumbled, hand harshly pulling at something from inside. A rattling sound from within soon stopped as a pop followed by what appeared to be a metal rod. And then the sound of combustion within the machine could be heard and before Lilly could turn around to ask what on earth was going on, thirium had splattered Madeleine’s clothes. “Ah, so that was the emergency thirium valve I see.” She muttered, wiping the fluids away from her hands.

“Yes, it appears you are correct.” Connor laughed, a hand offering to point out the metal rod from before, “That balanced the rotation in my ankle, but I think the dent from when the car hit it has dislocated the part.” Turning the leg over and sure enough there was a concave in the area, sinking in rather deeply and jutting out through the hole on the other side. Madeleine clicked her tongue.

“That’s an easy fix, a hairdryer will pop it back into place good as new and the hole will close if everything goes back into working order. Your leg is literally just a puzzle that needs to be put back together.” She shoved the loose metal rod back inside before turning to Connor. “And I will fix this – it’s the least that I can do.” She said softly, giving the android a lopsided side hug. “I mean, whatever happens in the next few minutes, good or bad, I appreciate you going out of your way to try and set it right.”

Connor returned the hug slowly as he listened to the girl speak, staring off into the distance as he processed what she said. “I do hope that you and Detective Reed can continue to build a strong bond.” He said earnestly, “You deserve it; you both do.

 

~~~

 

“I don’t know where he went, he just threw his jacket at me and bolted.” Hank sighed, recounting the commotion that had happened 20 minutes ago for the seventh time. Gavin paced back and forth with a sniffle, occasionally wiping the snot and grime shamelessly from his face as he tried to focus on the situation.

“Can’t you call him?” Gavin asked, bewildered himself as to where the android had disappeared to. It wasn’t the best that Connor was missing, but on the positive, at least it had effectively distracted the man from the previous events that took place. Gavin’s pacing didn’t cease, even when Hank nodded his head to confirm that he’d tried calling the android with no luck.

“If he doesn’t turn up soon we’re gonna have to go out searching.” Hank worried, taking a sip from the beer that Gavin had offered. “Fucking hell, what is he _doing_?” His question was almost instantly answered as a hurried knock echoed throughout the house, causing the two men to stare questioningly at each other. Hank shrugged his shoulders unhelpfully, sipping from his beer again as Gavin cautiously made his way to the door and unclasped the safety lock.

“What the fuck Connor, where is your _leg_?” Gavin moved aside to reveal the android, gaping at the missing limb by his side. Connor appeared otherwise unaffected, leaning slightly against the door frame as Gavin offered a hand for balance. Hank audibly groaned at the situation, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“You fucking yeet the hell outta here and return with a missing body part – what else are you missing hmm?”

“I’m not missing anything, my leg is safely in the car, it was agreed that discussing my… situation would be better before continuation.” Hank raised an eyebrow in response.

“Okay… then why is your leg not on your body if it’s in… a mysterious car?”

“It was hit by said mysterious car.” He supplied helpfully, “I can’t use it right now but can be repaired.”

Gavin wasn’t sure whether to laugh or worry, or the fact that Connor’s leg got hit by a car just sounded so _absurd_ with his calm presence. But before he could decide how to properly respond, Hank beat him to it with a follow up question. “So how did that happen exactly?” Connor nodded as he snapped his finger in thought, a habit he probably picked up from human culture that appeared almost too stereotypical.

“I…” He paused eyeing Gavin, “I admit that I could potentially have worsened the situation, however I truly believe that this will be beneficial for you both.” The apologetic tone already clued the men in as to what Connor was saying, and as Gavin opened his mouth to retaliate and practically beg that Connor didn’t just do what he thought he did, Madeleine knocked against the wide open door awkwardly.

The silence that prolonged was both painful and endless, engulfing the atmosphere in a sense of nervous anticipation. She slowly placed Connor’s leg on the floor, taking a step over it and making her way to her father. “Dad- Uh, Gavin.” She said unsurely, not daring to take her eyes off of his own, “I-I know you’re mad… but I wanted… I _need_ to set things right.” She stopped in her tracks halfway across from him, waiting for an answer to come.

Hank and Connor exchanged a wary glance, before shifting to the corner of the room to avoid interfering, making space as Lilly crept inside afterwards. Gavin and Madeleine had seemingly begun to talk in their own conversation, whatever was said was left unheard as the small group of three exited the house to respect their privacy.

“I’m concerned about her.” Lilly nodded, leaning against her car as she stared off to the house.

“She’s a tough girl, she can handle herself completely.” Hank reassured, “But even so, I don’t think anything is gonna happen…It’s good- that they are talking I mean.” Lilly remained silent,

“I know…” she mumbled, watching as Gavin sat down on the couch beside Madeleine.

The two inside were timid, and no one could blame them for being this way. Gavin was just as big a mess as Madeleine, and for once, it somehow made talking that tiny bit more easier. “Shit… Where did I go so wrong?” He sighed, staring up at the ceiling as if the answer would just fall into his lap. The only answer he received was the hesitant hand on his shoulder, and after turning to the side to look, a frail smile displayed on his kid’s face.

“I mean, I could probably list several places…” She said in a light tone, stifling a small giggle ineffectively. “But then and again, who am I to say such things…”

Gavin shifted to look at her, a hand on top of her own as he squeezed it softly, “Yeah I know what ya mean kid… _fuck_.” Their conversation was filled with similar comments, and more wondering aloud as they sat beside each other. Neither really knew where else to go from there, hoping that the other would perhaps have a better idea as to what to do. When it became clear that no one would speak however, Gavin decided it was time to say something. “If I’m honest...” He paused, trying to start his sentence a few times before stumbling into a silence. “I’m sorry.”

And maybe it was that small acknowledgment that was what was missing, and maybe it was what made the biggest difference, because suddenly, the warmth that radiated from Madeleine had enveloped him around the middle and tiny droplets of tears had splattered the front of his shirt. He remained frozen, stunned into shock as the girl hugged _him_ tightly, small sobs escaping her lips which had curled into a smile of sorts and confused Gavin further. “I-I’m sorry too… I’m s-sorry t-to, I’m-“

“Yeah, I know.” He said softly, and only then did he wrap his own arms around her small frame and return the gesture. He silently placed his head on top of her own, chin resting atop the girl’s hair, sighing a shaky breath as he stared ahead at the wall opposite them. The thoughts that ran through his head were all a blur, contorting his mind as he laid back in his sofa and held the embrace. They didn’t move for what felt like a long time, but to both of them, it was one of the most comfortable moments they shared.

“D-does this mean you don’t hate me?” Gavin felt a sharp pang in his chest at her words, and it only made him feel like crap to know that his actions were that harsh. Madeleine separated the hug and stared at him, awaiting an answer as she wiped her eyes. “T-that sounded bad… I mean-“

“No, I don’t.” Gavin quickly cut in, offering an unpractised smile, “But Madeleine… Mads.” She appeared somewhat hopeful for a moment, hands fidgeting in her lap as Gavin chuckled lowly, “I don’t want to continue this trial anymore, I think, and fuck, I don’t know _how_ but we’ll figure it out— That is… if you still wanna you know… put up with my crap-“

“You want me to _stay_?” And finally, for once, everything just clicked perfectly as Gavin silently nodded, the girl’s eyes, the same eyes as Gavin’s welling up with tears of happiness as she hugged him tightly once more. Gavin ran a hand through her hair as he let out a heavy breath, and for the first time, he felt his own tears cascading down his face in a moment of pure bliss.

Hank and Connor smiled softly as Lilly gave a tiresome sigh, physically relaxing as she pulled out her phone, eyeing the two from where they waited. “I suppose they’re going to be alright.” She admitted, the ghost of a smile appearing on her face, “I’ll have a lot of paperwork to fill out, but if I’m being truthful – I’m glad it seems like it’s going to work out.” She turned to Connor and Hank, pointing at them objectively. “You two are gonna keep a close eye on them yes?”

“They’re in safe hands.” Hank smiled, gesturing towards the house in front of them, “Connor and I will make sure everything runs smoothly.” Satisfied with his answer, Lilly returned a thoughtful look, before pulling out her phone to get into contact with people, leaving the other two to themselves. Connor analysed the scene with his optical units, diagnosis and status popping up in the corner of his peripheral vision. It was clear to see they were happy, and for Gavin to appear so vulnerable, Connor felt a warm sensation spread in his chest for the man, as Hank slung an arm around his shoulder. Connor hobbled in position, playfully glaring as a reminder of his missing leg as he regained balance, leaning against Hank for support. “I’ve never seen Gavin this peaceful.” Hank whispered, as if in awe, and he probably was.

“Yes.” Connor agreed, turning the support grip Hank held into a small hug as he looked behind them, “The serenity of this moment is quite… beautiful… I’m glad that I managed to catch up to them.” Hank laughed at that comment.

“Connor son, you threw your leg at a car.” Connor laughed himself as he decided to return to their support system grip, shrugging bashfully in response.

“It worked.” He pointed out, before turning to face Hank directly, “Humans never fail to surprise me, you all grow and change… it’s rather remarkable.” Hank raised his eyebrows at the unexpected profoundness in Connor’s statement, wordlessly suggesting for him to further explain. The android read his facial expression quickly, blinking as he chose his words. “These past few days have proven that even the most close minded people can transform. I was just thinking about how incredible it is to be able to shape the person you are, to one minute be so introverted and the next fully accepting.”

Hank let out an “Ah.” In understanding, head thrown back lightly as Connor’s explanation made sense. “Ya know kid, you’ve changed a lot too.” Connor gave a sceptical look. “Ya, you have! When I first met ya, you were a machine— probably would have put a bullet between any deviant’s eyes and pulled the trigger, and now?” He threw a hand to gesture towards Gavin and Madeleine, who by then were still speaking to each other quietly. “You have changed Connor— you threw your own fucking leg to stop a car for a man who hasn’t treated you fair since day one. I may not know why you didn’t just wait till the car pulled over, but you did something for someone else, and if that doesn’t prove change then fuck, nothing will.”

Connor gave an appreciative smile as he looked down towards the ground, staring at his single foot that kept him standing. “I suppose everyone has changed, bringing both the good and the bad along with them.” He agreed, finally meeting eyes with the older man, who pulled him in for another side hug. Connor happily returned the gesture as he felt himself be engulfed by the lieutenant’s fatherly affection as Gavin and Madeleine stepped outside and made their way towards them, both wearing matching smiles on their faces. It appeared that they had heard the last of the android’s comments.

And if there was anything that Gavin, Hank and Connor could all agree on, it was that _somehow_ , despite the challenges and the hardships, everything, would be alright— and they wouldn’t trade it for the world.


End file.
